Frozen Tundra
by ChibiPotatoes
Summary: Valetron is a forge-world deep in space. It has come under siege by the archenemy and the planet must be defended no matter the cost. The long awaited prequel to United Front! The story of Halle and Andre before the Taiga saga. Undergoing Repair.
1. Prologue: Darkness

**Hey guys, I know I haven't finished United Front yet, but I felt compelled to start writing this story. Enjoy...**

**

* * *

**

**Prologue: Darkness**

**

* * *

**

Dak Lanner struggled to walk through the endless mounds of snow that made up the outskirts of the city of Dothen. The wind was blowing hard and the snow was quickly becoming a blizzard. The man placed a gloved hand over the scarf that covered his face to prevent the garment from blowing away.

Dark shapes against the white background began to form in front of his eyes. There was only a hundred more yards until he made it to the shelter of his home where his wife Zilsha had a hot, steaming pot of stew waiting on the stove.

The lumberjack was on his way home from a long, hard day of work at the mill. He worked hours and hours on end to make a meager pay that barely supported his family of three. But jobs on Valetron were rare and he'd take any that he could get his hands on.

Dak leaned against his walking stick. His legs were getting tired, but stopping meant certain death. At this temperature and in this weather, he'd surely die of hypothermia. The rugged man forced himself to continue on despite the agonizing pangs that erupted from the joints in his legs.

As he entered the city, the rockcrete buildings around him provided some protection against the gusting winds. He briefly rested against the wall, reaching into his coat pocket for some caffeine he had taken from his work several hours earlier.

The thermos was cold.

He opened the container and held the opening against his nearly frozen, lips.

"Of course..." He whispered to himself, "Frozen..."

Firmly twisting the top back on, he hobbled into his tenement building.

It was oddly quiet for the end of the week. Usually Erin would be holding some kind of party in his apartment floor. But the familiar music that erupted from his room on such nice did not fill the hallways today. Perhaps the alcoholic finally realized the meaning of relaxation. The lumberjack let out a slight chuckle.

Ascending six flights of stairs, Dak arrived at the top floor of the building. He dug his key from out of his pocket and fumbled around with it until her managed to slide it into the keyhole.

As quietly as he could he opened the door to his apartment, his 15-year-old daughter should be asleep by now. But teenagers always had this tendency to disobey their parents. It wouldn't be the first time he caught her staying up late, writing and day-dreaming about a boy she liked at the academy she went to.

Dak hung his coat up on the hook by the door and made his way into the bedroom where he expected his wife to be sleeping.

But what he saw was _not_ what he thought it would be.

The bed sheets were thrown about the room and the lantern that hung from the ceiling eerily flickered on and off. One of the shelves had been toppled, the books scattered about the floor. The silver aquila that hung above their bed was crooked; a dark liquid was dripping from one of its edges.

Dak took a flashlight from his belt and shone it on the ornament. The liquid that fell from the broken wing was a dark red. He pulled off one of his gloves and stuck his finger into it.

Blood...

A slight panic gripped his heart and his chest began to throb. He ran downstairs and burst into Erin's room. A record was on the player, but all that came out of the speakers was a crackly, static. The sight he saw was horrific.

His buddy was hanging by a hook stuck deep into his skull; blood was dripping down his limp fingers. The smell that filled the room was rancid and caused him to gag.

_Zilsha!_

He ran back into his room a searched through his apartment until he entered the bathroom. His wife was dead. Her body hacked in half. Her torso was floating morbidly in the bathtub, inside a mixture of blood and water, her entrails made a path that revealed where her legs and waist were; on the floor in a pool of blood.

Painted in red on the walls of the bathroom were strange markings. But there was one Dak could identify, an eight-pointed cross.

The symbol of the arch-enemy...

There was a high-pitched scream. Dak turned around to see an ugly creature, piercings covering his entire body leap out at him.

He drew his pistol...

There was a gunshot that resonated through the building's hall.


	2. Chapter 1: The 126th Valhallan

**Chapter One: The 126****th ****Valhallan**

**Weather: Light Blizzard, Calm Winds Predicted Temperature: -47˚C**

The drop-ship's doors slowly opened with the hiss and creak of hydraulics. Sergeant Andre Malicov was sitting atop a Chimera transport as the cold rush of winter wind blew into his face. The feel of the frigid air comforted the young officer. Anything was better than the stench of an Imperial starship.

The armored vehicle slowly rolled down the loading ramp and made its way into the parade ground where the 43rd Valhallan battle group was rallying.

The entire hive was stirring. When the news of the battle group's arrival had reached the multitudes, the masses asked the universal question. _Why?_

Andre found it somewhat fortunate that the Governor decided to keep the recent news from cities like Dothen and Sarasita secret. What has arrived on Valetron was unspeakable, and there was fear of a mass panic if the civilian population found out.

But in the end they would find out eventually, whether the Governor wished it or not.

Andre had to admit. Hive Lashvowe was impressive with its towering structures and gargantuan factories that were forever dedicated to the Imperial cause. Tall smokestacks churned out grey, endless spires of smoke that reached high into the upper atmosphere.

Crowds in the thousands lined the streets watching the convoy of Imperial vehicles roll by.

All had a look of worry and surprise on their faces.

The Chimera came to a stop and the sergeant hopped off, his boots making a loud crunch as he landed on a tall mound of snow. The Chimera door opened and a dozen soldiers slowly walked out of the hatch.

"Form up!" He called out, "Parade stance, on the double!"

The guardsmen lined up into two neat, uniform lines. The sergeant passed between them. All of them were seasoned veterans and they had seen their share of bloodshed. Fighting the archenemy was not an unfamiliar feat.

Up in front was the distinct shape that made up the regiment's pride: the Lucius-pattern Baneblade _Crusius_. Colonel Dimitri Komivosky was sitting inside his turret-mounted cupola, his loud-speaker blaring.

"Sons and daughters of Valhalla, we have been sent here on a task we are more than capable of achieving!"

There was a loud responsive cheer from the assembled soldiers.

"The wretched archenemy has laid their stained feet on the precious ground of this forge-world, and it is our duty to cleanse this planet of their wretched stench! This is not the first time we have faced the forces of darkness eye to eye! Go forth my comrades! And make the motherland proud!"

A long, resonating war-cry was the 126th's response.

Andre was not one of those cheering. He had studied the Iron Warriors. And he was almost certain this would be a bloodbath.

Halle Heredovich sat inside a Chimera, her hand holding her oversized helmet to her head. She was a brand new trooper. Fresh from the training grounds of Valhalla, and there was no need to say that she was nervous.

Although she had graduated top of her class back home, there was no _real_ way to train oneself for actual combat. But something deep inside her told her she needed to serve in the guard...

The Chimera hit a bump and her lasgun tumbled out of her lap. She cursed under her breath. Halle bent down in her seat to reach for it and her helmet fell off her head as she did so. Embarrassed she rigidly sat up against the seats back.

"You a greenie?"

Halle turned her head to the trooper that was seated next to her.

"Are you a greenie?" She asked again.

Halle nodded slowly.

"I figured," She smiled a kind smile, "Talila Agros." She extended her hand to Halle.

The young trooper reluctantly shook it.

"Don't worry!" Talila said, "You nervous?"

Halle nodded again.

"Relax! I remember when I was a greenie. When I made planetfall I pissed myself. I can tell you haven't done that, so you're doing fine so far. Well, better than me at least!"

Halle smiled lightly. That's when she took the effort to look at her fellow squad mates for the first time. She was surprised to see that the majority of them were women, except for three men who made up the heavy and special weapons troopers.

All of them were smiling, "She's right! Relax. You'll do fine."

"Are you a drinker?" Asked Alisa Graham, the squad's sanctioned sniper.

"No." Halle responded.

Alisa chuckled, "Oh, well, we'll have to fix that now don't we?"

The others laughed.

Mina Foren, the squad's sergeant patted Halle's shoulder, "Don't worry. If you stick with us, you'll be fine. I guarantee you that between all of us; we've seen plenty of shit!"

Mina spent the next several minutes introducing every squad member formally to her. There was Ivan, the special weapons officer who carried the plasma gun. Kristof and Josef were the heavy weapons men and they operated an autocannon. Alisa: the sniper, Talila: the demolition expert, Alexa: a sharpshooter, Marie, and Cally.

Halle smiled again.

"What's your name by the way?"

"Halle. Halle Heredovich."

Andre sat quietly in his room, his journal was open and he was writing to the light of a dying lantern. His chainsword and laspistol sat idly on his bunk. There was a bottle of amasec on the desk he sat at.

He put down the pen and sat back into his chair, sighing.

Although the young sergeant was now a battle-hardened veteran, he didn't feel like it. Images of his fallen comrades and killed friends seemed to be watermarked into his brain. He was honored by the sudden promotion, but it was unwelcome.

Andre reached for the bottle of amasec and took a sip.

Cassadore was a disaster. Yes, they had achieved victory, but not without tremendous losses. The majority of the 126th was killed, and Andre was only one of several dozen troopers who originally landed on the planet

The sight of his friend Victor replayed in his mind. They were running for cover when He was hit with something. Andre pulled him behind the nearby wall and watched in horror as Victor was eaten alive from the inside-out by particle size insects.

He prayed to the Emperor that he would never have to fight the tyranids again.

Biting claws, sharp teeth, acidic saliva...

There was a knock on the door that startled him.

"Come in."

"Sergeant, it is time."

Halle had spent the majority of her down time examining her lasgun and making sure the weapon was clean in every aspect. Mina and the rest of the squad had gone out to party, only Talila and she had remained.

The demolition expert had been quietly working at her desk for the past several hours. Halle hadn't tried to talk to her; Mina had warned her that Talila got angry easily when she was working.

She heard Talila sigh, "By the Emperor's name..."

Halle turned to her, "You need help?"

"No, I just need a break."

Halle got up from her seat and sat next to her, "Talila, did you serve on Cassadore?"

She slowly nodded, "One of the few original members of the regiment remaining. I landed on the planet when we first mustered out and I was lucky to leave. I'll tell you, pray to the Emperor you never face tyranids."

"How'd you pull through?"

"Faith, I guess. Hope."

"I see what the problem is."

"What?"

Talila hadn't noticed Halle pick up the charge, "You see, this connection is mis-wired. If you put this link here, it fixes your problem."

She took the charge from her and examined it, "Throne, you're right! Where'd you learn to do that?"

"Before I enlisted I worked in a factory back home making demolition charges and lasguns."

There was a knock on the room door. Mina poked her head inside, "Guys, you ready? It's time to go."


	3. Chapter 2: Durham

**Chapter Two: Durham**

**Weather: Clear Sky, Moderate Winds Predicted Temperature: -69˚C**

The regiment began to mobilize in the middle of the night and the darkness that engulfed the city was absolute. The hive was asleep; the only noises that could be heard were that of the ever-awake factories in the city's distant industrial zone. Surprisingly the skies were clear. The only things that illuminated the night were Valetron's four bright moons.

The Imperial forces did their best to make as little noise as possible. They didn't want to draw attention to themselves as they departed the city. Officers communicated with their soldiers by hand signals and light whispers only.

Andre was standing adjacent to the opened Chimera door, using a series of hand signals to usher his squad members into the awaiting armored transport. They silently and quickly got into the vehicle. The sergeant crawled in as the last passenger and beat on the armor next to the driver to indicate that they were ready to move.

They took in a final view of Lashvowe as the Chimera's door slowly closed shut.

The APC lurched forward and began to roll along with the rest of the hundreds of armored vehicles making the sixty-seven kilometer trip to Durham.

Durham was a lonely and quiet factory town in the outskirts of Lashvowe, but recent development and expansion led to its abandonment. The majority of the city was now ruined buildings, and shells of structures that were once seen as the pinnacle of human engineering.

It would serve as the Imperium's first waypoint towards their trip to the city of Winiske, the headquarters from which they will stage the attacks on Dothen and Sarasita.

But Andre found the location somewhat un-strategic. Between Winiske and Dothen was a huge, completely open plain of what seemed to be never-ending snow mounds. As for Sarasita, a dangerous series of deep lakes and rivers served as a natural barrier.

The 78th Valhallan reconnaissance regiment had gone out to do a preliminary scouting mission of Durham and the reports were, so far, good. It was completely empty and devoid of any life.

Andre silently chuckled as he read the report, _Perhaps the governor will get what he wants..._ With not a single soul in the city, the only reports the Governor would be getting would be straight from the front. But the delay in communications on this planet due to the strong magnetic field restricted the long range comms strictly to old-school data-plates and electronic telegrams. That meant a four-day delay between messages.

All of the troopers sat quietly. Half of them were asleep.

Most of them had seen their share of action and Andre understood why they were not keen on talking. There wasn't much to talk about, unless they wanted to discuss the horrific tragedies they all suffered in the last campaign.

He decided it was best to keep his mouth shut.

Andre drew his chainsword close to him and rigorously inspected each and every blade that made up the deadly swords teeth. Once he was through making sure the cogs on the blade were polished and maintained, he moved to the motor. When he realized that it was in good order, he placed it back into the holster next to his seat.

Yawning, he closed his eyes.

"Hey, Sarge."

Andre responded, "Yes?"

Carson Freedmen was the one who summoned him. She was a veteran of Cassadore, but not an original member of the 126th. Carson joined the fighting half-way through the campaign; she quietly whispered to her superior, "What are we up against?"

"Chaos space marines."

"Have you ever fought them before?"

"No. I haven't. I've studied them before though. The Iron Warriors to be exact."

"So, do you think we have a chance?"

Andre opened an eye and sighed, "You're asking the wrong person."

Halle was sitting half-asleep in the Chimera. Her lasgun sat idly in her lap.

The others sat at the edges of their seats. It seemed as if they were anxious for something.

The new trooper guessed it was something she would get in time...

It was hard to believe that she was even tired given the bumpy ride and stench of gasoline that filled the compartment. The only sound was the constant drone of the engine. Inside was lit with a dim red light and the compartment was very hot, despite the below freezing temperatures outside.

She had long abandoned her helmet, pulling her semi-short hair back into a ragged ponytail.

"You still nervous, Halle?"Talila asked in a hushed voice.

She turned to Talila, "I guess, a little. Well, not as nervous as before."

"That's good." Talila held her boltgun close, "I suggest you get some sleep. Trust me, you'll need it."

Halle looked at her squad mates. For some reason or another, she had failed to notice that they all had dozed off. Some were even snoring, but none compared to Kristof when it came to sounding off the Zs.

Tightly clasping her lasgun, Halle slunk down into her seat.

A slight depression gripped her as she sat in the compartment of the bumping Chimera.

First-time combat-stress.

That's what the sergeant at the academy back home had said, _The first time you enter a battle-zone you'll probably feel a depressed spell come across you. Don't panic, it's a natural feeling to have before going into combat. In technical terms it's called first-time combat-stress. It passes when that first bullet or las-bolt flies past your head. Trust me._

She held the lasgun tighter.

Then her thoughts suddenly shot back to her mother back in hive prime in Valhalla. She was still performing the same routine, waking up early and spending the day in the factory constructing tanks for the countless regiments of Valhallan soldiers.

But what surprised Halle the most was when she told her mother she wanted to volunteer for the guard. Halle had expected her mother to break-down in tears just like when her father was enlisted.

She didn't surprisingly. Her mother was proud.

A tear slowly rolled down her cheek. Halle swiped it away angrily.

Besides, there was nothing she could do now. Her mother was on Valhalla, and she was on Valetron. Some ungodly amount of space measured only by light-years separated them now...

The Chimera continued on. It's treads plowing through the meter-deep snow.

It had already been several hours since the battle group had left the hive. Durham should be close by now, and resting on stable ground is what Halle was looking forward to.

The morning was dark. A snowstorm prevented most of the sun's rays from penetrating past the clouds. It was nearly mid-day by the time the 126th arrived in Durham and not a single ray of light shown on the city. The darkness outside suggested nothing else.

By the shine of a small, hand-held mag-light, Andre helped to guide his troopers from out of the Chimera's hold. Once the last trooper was on his feet, he tapped the armor of the vehicle and it speedily drove away.

Durham loomed in the gray and white abyss ahead. The silhouettes of long-dormant smoke stacks and factoriums made up the shadows of the city.

The sight was unnerving and sent chills down Andre's back.

Perhaps the souls of those who once worked in these decrepit places still roamed aimlessly through the deserted hallways.

Directly ahead of them was a tank factorium. The grand structure was once the home of thousands of workers, servitors, and enginseers toiling day and night to construct Valetron pattern vehicles for the war effort.

Now the building lay dormant. Replaced by a more modern and advanced brother lost deep within one of the planet's major hive sprawls.

Andre's squad entered the structure.

The mag-light barely pierced the darkness.

The sergeant took a step forward and he felt and heard the familiar crunch of glass beneath his booted feet.

To his left was a long-eroded window pane. The metal was rusted and the majority of the glass panes had fallen out and shattered on the floor.

His squad quietly followed behind him, their boots breaking the already destroyed glass into minute speckles.

It took several minutes before they reached the actual factory floor where the majority of the 126th was already assembled. Colonel Komivosky stood on a high cat-walk that overlooked the floor below. His commissar and tactical officer stood at his sides.

The constant murmur created by the anxious soldiers echoed through the building's large and spacious main floor.

Andre and his squad stood with their company, ready and assembled.

Komivosky's commissar nodded. He stepped forward against the railing of the cat-walk, "Soldiers! Our time has come once again! The hardships of winter are not uncommon to us! We were born in it! We were raised in it! And we sure as hell can fight in it!"

There was a loud responsive cheer.

"We have been given a great honor to defend this forge-world."

Another cheer.

"And it is _my_ honor to announce to you that the 126th Valhallan mechanized regiment will be spear-heading the attack on Dothen. The 29th Valhallan storm trooper regiment and the 97th Valhallan armored will follow quickly behind us."

A low murmur began to echo through.

"We are the tip of the spear, gentlemen. And by the name of the Emperor, we shall not fail!"

Vasily Astinof, Andre's closest friend in his squad, whispered quietly into his ear, "The tip of the spear, eh? I guess our performance on Cassadore makes us the first to be shot at I'm assuming."

Andre slowly nodded his head, "I guess. It's not comforting, I can tell you that much."

"Of course not. Elite status is never comforting."

"To be honest," Andre said turning around as the colonel finished his speech, "We don't even know what we're really up against. We could be sorely outnumbered for all we know. I don't even think we're getting reinforcements." He let out a sigh, "The Imperium is leaving it to us to make damn sure that Valetron is saved."

Halle was wide awake in her cot. Although she had been eager for sleep on the trip to Durham, what she overheard a sergeant say at the assembly left her somewhat bothered.

_To be honest, we don't even know what we're really up against. We could be sorely outnumbered for all we know. I don't even think we're getting reinforcements._

She wasn't ready for combat yet. She wasn't ready by a long-shot.

The wind outside howled, the previous blizzard had remained and a small trickle of snow was blowing through parts of the shattered window panes.

The young private shifted uncomfortably.

It was cold. Colder than Valhalla, perhaps it's just her nerves getting to her because she knew for a fact Valhalla was colder... Halle let out a sigh and she watched the cloud of heated mist dissipate into the darkness.

She wasn't sure how long she was awake, or if she even slept. What felt like minutes, less than hours, later Talila was shaking her to get up. "Did you get any sleep?"

Halle shook her head.

"Well, we still have a long trip ahead of us. Try and get some." Talila began to gather her materials together into her bag, "Like I said, you're really going to need it."

"Talila..." Halle said feebly and quietly.

"Yep?"

"Do you think we have a chance in this fight?"

Talila paused and looked silently at the green trooper. Halle could read the look on the demolition officer's face though she tried to hide it. The veteran was worried, despite the fact that it was only a quick lapse.

Once she regained her composure, she smiled. "Don't worry, Halle, stick with us and you'll be fine!"

Halle wasn't sure if Talila was being completely reassuring. Perhaps it was the knowledge that Halle was a private that forced her to say that, nonetheless the young private was nervous.

It didn't matter what anyone said...

The battle group was assembled once again in the main floor; all were dressed in extreme-cold winter gear. Heavy boots, thick trench coats, masks, scarves, and goggles.

There was a blizzard outside, and it seemed like they were going to make the advance no matter the circumstances.


	4. Chapter 3: Preparation

**Chapter Three: Preparation**

**Weather: Heavy Blizzard Predicated Temperature: -67****C**

Sergeant Malicov stared blankly at the makeshift bunk above him, the strong stench of hydraulics and fuel that permeated the room robbed him of sleep. He shifted uncomfortably on the hard mattress to gaze at the chronometer above the steel bulk-head. The device blinked in bright blue letters 22:41.

Given the lack of time, the battle group was hastily organized into converted Mammoth mining vehicles that the tech-priests and enginseers had toiled all night to revive. The gigantic vehicles were extremely slow and were not particularly well-known as luxury craft, but they were the only things big enough to transport the regiments with all their equipment unscathed across the planet's infamous blizzard plains.

Andre crawled out from his cot and landed onto the metallic floor with a thump. Using his mag-light, the sergeant went to his locker and dressed into some drab fatigues, silently walking out into the adjacent hallway.

The passage was dimly lit by a series of red lights built into the ceiling and it was punctuated by over two dozen doorways that were nearly identical to the one Andre had just exited. He chose a direction to explore and decided to head towards the cargo bay.

Although it was unfathomably cold outside, the interior of the Mammoth was so sticky and hot that it forced him to roll up the thick sleeves of his uniform.

The narrow corridor ended in a large gate with the words 'Cargo Bay' in big white letters painted on the hatch. It took all of the young officer's strength to turn the lock and push the door open.

Before him was a sight to behold.

The cargo hold was several stories high and full of shelves stacked with Imperial vehicles from wall to wall. The surplus of tanks and troop transports reminded him of a toy store on a much grander scale.

Andre walked out onto the maintenance cat-walk in awe. In his two years of service in the Guard, he had never seen the vehicles that made up his company in such a fine and uniform formation. He leaned up against the railing and let out an impressed sigh of respect.

A servitor made its way in his direction and asked in its lifeless, metallic voice, "Do you require assistance, sergeant?"

He shook his head and the servitor returned to its programmed parameters.

With his gaze moving from one vehicle to the next, Andre slowly began to walk down the remainder of the walkway, arms behind his back.

The 126th Valhallan was a combined mechanized and armored regiment. It consisted of three mechanized infantry companies, two armored companies, and a single super-heavy tank company. Each consisted of around two hundred soldiers not including support staff.

The mechanized branches of the regiment were separated into twenty squads, each with its own assigned Chimera with the company command squad housed in a Stormlord heavy APC.

As for the armored sections, the standard companies consisted of thirty tanks which ranged from the standard Leman Russ battle tank all the way to Vanquishers, Punishers, and the other variants of the revered standard tank. Usually the command tanks were a type of super-heavy tank, most commonly a Macharius-pattern Vanquisher.

The last company was the regiment's pride and is made up of fourteen super-heavy tanks. Three Baneblades, three Shadowswords, three Hellhammers, three Baneswords, and two HQ tanks: the Baneblade _Crusius_, and the Shadowsword _Novanator_.

His company's Stormlord came up, appropriately, next to his sanctioned Chimera. The _Verwoesten_ was painted in a blocky white, black, and blue pattern. Andre took several minutes to admire the Vulcan mega-bolter, its barrels stained black after years of use.

On Cassadore, Andre had seen the mega-bolter fire and wished to never be on the receiving end of such a devastating weapon. No wonder the tank earned the name 'destroy' in one of Valhalla's dialects.

He silently continued on.

The young officer must've been so absorbed in awe that several minutes later he found himself in a heap on the cat-walk with some other trooper.

Andre hastily got up for fear of the person he fell into was a ranking officer, but he took one quick glance at the uniform to a see a single bar across the arm. Whoever it was, was just a private.

Somewhat irritated, the sergeant raised an eyebrow and commanded the soldier to stand at attention.

With some difficulty the soldier quickly saluted him and stood rigidly according to his command.

Andre found the trooper to be quite a spectacle.

From her looks, she was a brand new young soldier. Her uniform appeared to be two times too big for her body; the sleeves of her fatigues were so long that it gave her the appearance that she lacked hands.

Her helmet was nearly identical. The standard-issue silver Valhallan helmet was oversized to the point that it covered her eyes.

Obviously she couldn't see him, but was too nervous to adjust her headgear.

Andre did his best not to chuckle and said in the most serious voice he could muster, "Watch where you're walking next time, private."

She nodded, the helmet wobbling up and down as she did.

In the darkness, Andre strained his eyes to read the name sewn onto the uniform, "Well, Private Heredovich, what're you doing out here in the middle of the night and so far away from the troop quarters?"

Private Heredovich stuttered slightly, "I – um – I got lost..."

Andre let out a small chuckle, "You got lost? Did I hear you correctly?"

"I was on the way to –"

The sergeant kindly placed a hand on her shoulder with a small smile on his face, "No need to give me the details." Andre figured that she would give him some hopeless explanation only a true greenie could come up with, "I'll help you get back to where you're supposed to be. What squad are you a member of?"

As he started to walk, she fell in step behind him, "I'm a rifleman for Squad Nine."

"Ah, Squad Nine!" Andre opened the door he had entered from. "Mina and I go back a long time. We were members of the same conscript squad." He saw her re-adjust the helmet that sat loosely on her head. "What's your full name, by the way, Private?"

The young trooper turned and saluted him, the cuff of her long sleeve flopping idly in her face as she did so, "Private First Class Halle Nicole Heredovich, sir!"

He curbed her onward, "No need to call me 'sir,' Halle. The battlefield is too harsh for such ridiculous formalities. Where exactly are you from, in regards to Valhalla?"

Again, she pushed her helmet out of her eyes, "I'm from Hive Tarsus, attended the Guard Academy there too."

"Tarsus," Andre sighed, "The heart of the planet's manufacturing ring. As fate would have it, I'm from Tarsus too. I worked in an ammunition production facility, if I'm not mistaken, in the sector called Brivana."

"That's where the academy is! It wouldn't surprise me if an ammo manufactorium was nearby." Halle responded smiling. "Did you go to the academy too?"

"Nope." Andre said shaking his head, "I was conscripted into a white-shield battalion, trained in two weeks, and then thrown directly into the fray. Talk about a true trial by fire." He shuddered at the thought.

"How old were you when you got drafted?"

They came up to a hatch marked 'nine' and he opened it up for her, "I was seventeen."

"Wow..." She gazed at him in awe.

Mina appeared in the doorway with a yawn, "Andre... What're you doing here?"

He shrugged, "Just returning a little lost lamb." The sergeant gently pushed Halle into the room. "I ran into her wandering around the cargo bay with a rather confused look."

The fellow sergeant nodded slowly, it was apparent that she comprehended only half of the words he had said. "Ok, well, thanks..." Mina tried to wipe the sleepiness out of her eyes. "I think you should get back to bed... You know we're arriving in six hours."

"Yeah, I know." Andre turned to leave. "You got your girls ready?"

She mumbled what he thought was a 'yes,' but he couldn't quite understand her. The bulkhead door closed with a quiet creak behind him and he made his way back to his squad's bunk room.

_Hmm, that Private,_ He sat for several minutes on his cot,_ Young and naïve. She'll be lucky to live... But there's just something about her..._ Andre wiped a small bead of sweat that was forming on his forehead with the back of his hand. The image of Private Heredovich popped into his head and he couldn't help but chuckle.

Her first trial by fire...

Sadly though, Andre felt this battle would break her more than make her.

Halle eased her way onto her bunk; her helmet fell off her head as she did so, hitting the metallic floor with a loud clunk. She cursed her clumsiness and reached down to get it, hoping that she hadn't awoken any of her fellow troopers. Their continued snores were reassuring.

Mina gently pushed Halle's bunk to get her attention; she was below the young private.

"What were you doing out this late?"

"I was going to the bathroom."

"How'd you end up in the cargo bay?"

Halle shrugged although she knew Mina couldn't see her, "I don't know... These hallways are confusing. I'm too used to remaining in the same spot for long periods of time, so I get lost easily."

"That's not good..."

"I know," Halle sighed, "I'm trying to fix it, but obviously I haven't been quite successful."

"I'll just have to keep a sharp eye on you... It wouldn't do well for you to get lost in the middle of a battle."

Mina was right and Halle knew it. That would be the _worst_ thing to happen to her. Then her mind drifted to that kind sergeant who helped her find her way instead of yelling at her like all the others she had the misfortune of running into.

"Hey, Mina? That sergeant, Andre, he said you and him went back a long way. What did he mean by that?"

Her sergeant sighed tiredly. "Well, we've been serving together for awhile. That's all."

"Where are you from, if you don't mind me asking?"

"I came from a small settlement on the outskirts of Hive Kruger. They conscripted me when they formed the 126th. Consider yourself lucky, Halle, white-shield battalions are _not_ fun."

She'd heard about them at the academy a couple of times. 'Meat shields' is what her instructor had said. Since white-shields had the minimum amount of training, they were considered expendable by high command. They didn't have experience or battle prowess, so what's the point in keeping them?

But then again her instructor said one other thing: _Those soldiers that come out of white-shields. Those who survive and endure are usually tough, hard asses. Most get angry all the time because they're experiences are... brutal, to say the least. So be careful whenever you're around them during a battle. They might go crazy._

"So, Andre was a white-shield?"

"Yep, just like me. He had the shit-end of the stick though. Got transferred four times cuz his squads kept getting wiped out and he happened to be the one of the few survivors, if any, every time." Mina sighed. "Then he joined the squad I was part of, and things, well, they kinda changed. A lot of people still died. Good people."

"How is he in, you know, combat?"

"Oh, by the Emperor's name, he's _nuts_!" The sergeant responded, "We don't call him 'the Bear of Brivana' for nothing!"

"The Bear of Brivana?" Halle thought out loud as she placed her helmet onto the small shelf that was attached to the wall a few centimeters from her head.

"Yeah, he got that name when he was given a chainsword." Mina chuckled quietly. "Until then, he was known as a marksman. When he got that sword, everyone's opinion changed and we started calling his sword the Bear's claw and him the Bear."

"What do you mean by him being 'nuts'? He seems like such a nice guy."

"Don't get me wrong about him! Andre's a nice guy and all, you just gotta watch out when you're near him in a battle. Crazy bastard, that man." Mina let out a long, drawn-out sigh. "Doesn't talk much though, keeps to himself most of the time. That's really why most of the other girls don't like him."

"What do you mean?" Halle looked under her bunk to see Mina.

Mina slightly opened one of her eyes to see her soldier's head and hair hanging from the bunk above her, "You really are too green..." She snuggled herself into the nearby pillow. "A lot of the girls wanted to get him in a cot, but he was never really into that kind of stuff."

"Oh," Halle rolled back onto her spot. "That's what you meant..."

"Get some sleep, Halle." The sergeant yawned. "You are _really_ going to need it."

A still quiet ensued in which Halle remained awake despite her best efforts to get some rest. Her mind continuously darted from Andre, to Mina, to her mother back home. Everything seemed so sudden and different from her life back on Valhalla.

The young private knew she had to adapt soon if she wanted to live to see another day. Although she'd been lucky and missed the draft, life as a standard soldier was just as hard as that of a white-shield.

Just a little safer...

Being a regular meant that you weren't thrown out as a meat-shield. Or regarded as useless. Or shot when someone calls for a retreat and the commissar decided to summarily execute the closest soldier.

Then Halle decided that being a regular was _a lot_ better than being a white-shield and believed that debating on that fact was useless. She shifted in her bunk into a more comfortable position.

They were arriving in a couple of hours and her first battle would come in due time. She was unbelievably nervous. She'd never shot anyone before, as a matter of fact she'd never shot _anything_ before in her life.

How was she going to pull this off...?

Training wasn't the minimum, but she felt it wasn't exactly enough to prepare herself. Shooting a lasgun for her first time was a rather frightening experience. If she was scared of that, how would she feel when she was finally getting _shot at_? Would she panic in fear?

No... She couldn't do that... It would be an embarrassment regarding the Imperial Guard.

Halle had to remain strong and she had to persevere. This was _her_ chance to prove herself in her _own_ trial by fire.

Andre had a thick scarf wrapped around his face and his helmet sat snugly on his head. The image of Halle popped into his head once again and he chuckled as he remembered how her large helmet wobbled on top of her head.

Unlike Durham, Winiske was somewhat occupied. Like many of the other towns that dotted the outskirts of the hive, Winiske was a resource site built around a metal mine from which thousands of workers toiled. It was like its sister cities. Sarasita was a town formed around fuel synthesis while Dothen was focused on logging and clearing forests.

The young sergeant couldn't help but feel bad for these people, just simple honest workers attempting to earn a stable living. Why choose such innocents to stage an attack?

He ushered his ten man squad into their Chimera. The rear door closed, and the vehicle began to move.

The interior of the APC was quiet and dimly lit. The red lights built into the floor gave the troopers he commanded an eerie look about them.

They all sat rigidly in their standard uniforms. Scarves and helmets covered their faces, making them distinguishable only by the names sewn onto their uniforms and overcoats.

The fast-moving transport came to a stop, and the rear-access hatch fell open with a loud thump of metal on rockcrete. Andre was the first to step out and gaze at the building they'd be staying in for the majority of their time on Valetron.

It was a large apartment building; it's once sharp corners plummeted smooth by the winds and snows of the planet's cold climate. The structure was old and decrepit. It was obvious that it hadn't seen human life for decades.

Andre's squad, Number Thirteen, was one of the latter forces to enter the building. Many of the others had already arrived and were setting up their temporary living quarters. He led his troops to the third floor and discovered that they'd be sharing the floor with only one other group: Squad Nine.

Again Andre chuckled to himself. _Of course, as fate would have it_.

By the light of a small ion-heater, Sergeant Malicov proceeded to write another entry into his journal.

The battle was drawing ever closer.

Mina sat next to him, warming her hands over the small source of heat, "Andre, I didn't get a chance to actually thank you for returning Halle to me that night. She's kind of a noob trooper."

He looked up with a small chuckle, "So I discovered... Getting lost in your own vehicle is no easy feat after all!"

She smiled at him, "Yeah... Do you think she'll last the campaign?"

"I'm not one to answer that. If the God-Emperor wants her to, she will. If not, then, that's too bad. But if you want my opinion." He took a sip of amasec from a nearby canteen. "I don't think she'll survive the first engagement."

"Hey, we haven't seen her run yet." The fellow sergeant responded, looking up at him, "If you looked at us when we were white-shields on Cassadore, you wouldn't have expected _us _to survive! But look at us, the only survivors from _three_ different squads of twenty. What are the odds?"

Andre shrugged and continued to write. "You just asked for my opinion and I said that the God-Emperor will protect her if he sees that she has a future."

Several minutes of silence ensued. It was broken only by Jay Austerblum, Squad Thirteen's special weapons trooper, when he accidently dropped several canisters of pyrum petrol fuel, he let out a relieved sigh when they failed to ignite. "Uh, sorry..."

"You know, she looks at us as some type of hero." The female sergeant vigorously rubbed her hands together. "I don't feel at all like a hero though. Do you?"

He paused and looked up at her. Shutting the journal, he let out a long, drawn out sigh. "Are you kidding me? I've never felt like _any_ hero, just some regular doing his job by killing whatever they tell me to kill. Believe me, I'm no Chenkov or Yarrick."

"I feel the same way. I'm just glad we're _not_ fighting 'nids."

"I'm _not_ glad that we're fighting Chaos space marines. Only the Emperor knows what the hell they can come up with..."

Vasily soon joined them, placing a case of krak missiles on his lap as he sat down.

"Are they all accounted for, Vasily?" Andre asked mechanically looking at the heavy weapons operator.

"Yes, sir. All ten of us are accounted for and ready to run the gauntlet." He examined one of the missiles. "If there will _even_ be a gauntlet..."

Mina shrugged. "I doubt it. Given the amount of tanks and artillery we're fielding, it's more of a hellstorm then a gauntlet. Us regular infantry are going to get mown down."

Andre chuckled sarcastically. "We won't even get that chance! We won't be mown down! We'll be run over! We're fighting the Iron Warriors, for veth's sake! It'll be a freaking tank party!"

Vasily nodded in agreement. "When we hear that first artillery shell, the shit is really gonna hit the fan."

"Well," Mina got up, presumably to return to her squad mates, "We're just gonna have to do what we were trained to do: Fight or die."

Halle sat quietly in the corner of the large room her squad was taking residence and was disassembling her lasgun by the light of a small lantern. Talila was sitting nearby performing the same procedure on her Valhallan Mk. III pattern boltgun.

"You nervous, Halle?"Talila asked as she ran a cleaning tube through her barrel, "It's okay to be nervous."

The young private sighed tiredly. "I'm nervous... And that's putting it mildly! I can't sleep, I'm so stressed out!"

Talila chuckled, "Don't worry. When you get that adrenaline pumping and that instinct of survival going, you'll be asleep in no time. Just focus on staying alive."

Oh... That was comforting. _And staying alive is supposed to be easy?_ Halle was knocked out of her trance when Talila slammed her bolt shut with a loud click. The private observed her superior intently.

Talila gently reassembled her weapon with a loud sigh.

The door to the room opened and Mina entered quietly.

About half of the squad was asleep. Kristof was sitting up against a nearby wall, his helmet pulled over his eyes. His comrade in arms, Josef, was asleep on the floor using the autocannon as a pillow. She silently wondered how comfortable he was.

Alisa's sniper rifle sat idly in her lap, a small smoke trail drifted off of the end of her lho stick.

Alexa and Cally were playing a friendly game of roland, a type of card game, while Marie was out on a sleeping bag next to them.

Mina entered their makeshift kitchen and started a small ion-stove on top of which she placed a small kettle of frozen water. It would be awhile before it would start to boil, so the sergeant found a place next to Talila and Halle and gently sat herself down next to them.

Holding her bolt pistol next to the lantern, she disassembled it to clean it.

The three of them sat quietly for several minutes.

There were only several sounds that interrupted them: the constant snowy windstorm would usually erupt into an orchestra of loud and strong winds which was occasionally accompanied by an Imperial vehicle that would zoom by somewhere in the streets below.

Halle's uneasiness continued to grow.

Mina looked up at her fellow trooper with a small smile. "How are you feeling? Better I hope?"

Halle nodded slowly. She picked up her now reassembled lasgun and held it tightly against her chest like a mother would a new-born babe.

The sergeant turned back to her pistol. "We've gotten reports that the Iron Warriors are beginning to mobilize in Sarasita. You may be able see your first battle as early as tomorrow. Make sure you're ready for it."

Again, the young private nodded without a word.

"You'll be fine." Mina said as she pulled the bolt in an out to make sure it was well oiled. "You've got the spunk. Just stick with me and you'll be okay."

Another eerie silence followed before a small beeping noise indicated that the kettle was boiling. Mina rose and prepared herself a cup of caffeine, turning to Talila and Halle asking if they would like a cup. Both of them declined.

Mina sat back down and took a long sip. She knew that if she didn't drink it fast that it would get cold easily, and possibly even freeze. "Halle, I want you to know this alright? If anything happens to me or the rest of the squad, find Andre. He'll take care of you. He's kinda been my guardian for the past two years. I'd probably be dead if it weren't for him."

Talila leaned her boltgun up against the wall. "I always wondered why the Bear of Brivana was so protective of you."

"We've been serving together since the beginning. We look at each other as siblings, brother and sister."

"But that still doesn't explain completely."

"We're the only two survivors of the two hundred man white-shield battalion we were conscripted into. All of our friends, the ones we made in training died. He's all that I have left of home. Valhalla."

Halle looked up. "And he feels the same way."


	5. Chapter 4: First Blood

**Chapter Four: First Blood**

**Weather: Heavy Blizzard, No Wind Predicted Temperature: -75****C**

It had finally been confirmed.

The Iron Warriors were beginning to move the majority of their forces in Sarasita to Dothen in order to reinforce the main group. They must've somehow learned of the Imperial presence on Valetron and were preparing for the inevitable battle, sending small scouting parties in the direction of Winiske. Most of the cultist scouts had been engaged and eliminated by the 63rdGrenadiers, but a precious few bypassed the majority of the fighting and continued onward.

The 126th were tasked to neutralize the rest.

Halle had volunteered to go with Andre a kilometer forward in order to see the enemy platoon before they got into the main firing zone. She kept her lasgun close to her, aiming it into the snowy hills before her.

Andre was prone next to her with a pair of thermal magnoculars.

Neither of them had spoken a word since they had moved forward. Andre was focused, but Halle was just outright scared to speak to him. She wanted to ask him his thoughts; it took her a significant amount of time and courage to finally muster up enough confidence. "Sergeant? Sir?"

"How many times do I have to tell you, Halle, you don't have to call me sir." His gaze didn't move a millimeter.

"Yes, sir. Um, do you think those cultist managed to report back to their commanders via vox already?"

"Nope. I highly doubt that."

"What makes you say that, sir?"

Andre chuckled. "You must have been subconsciously trained to say 'sir' all the time."

Halle sighed.

"You wanna know why I think that?" He put his magnoculars away and slowly got up and signaled her to do the same. "My own vox-bead isn't working right, I'm trying to contact Mina and all I get is static."

The private watched him as he pulled out his laspistol from its holster and checked the charge-pack. "Sergeant?"

"How well can you handle a knife?"

The question had been abrupt and surprising. "Excuse me, sir?"

Andre calmly repeated the question. "Did they teach you that at the Academy? Stealth tactics?"

Halle slowly shook her head.

"Shit," He slowly unsheathed his combat knife. "Imperial education... Just stick close to me and watch what I do. Over this hill are four cultists, alone. This'll be a good way for you to brush up on your silent kills."

She nodded.

"You won't need your lasgun for this." He positioned himself into a crouch walk and used hand signals in order to tell the young private to continue on without speaking. They went over the parapet of the snow dune.

Just as Andre had told her, four cultists were cautiously patrolling the opposite side. Their backs were turned towards the two Ice Warriors. The howling winds covered their approach. Andre held up his hand, signaling her to stop.

With his fingers he silently indicated the two that were somewhat lagging behind. He was aiming for the right cultist and she would take out the other.

Halle slowly took out her combat knife.

They slowly and quietly stalked up behind their targets to the point that she could see the small clouds of steam leave their mouths. Andre gave her the signal to take him out.

Andre was the first to move and he moved quickly. Grabbing the first cultist by his forehead, he swiftly pulled the man down and with a single flick of his wrist broke the unfortunate victim's neck.

There were only seconds for Halle to react. The other scout turned to see that the man beside him had disappeared. He was about to call for his other comrades, but a gloved hand muffled his mouth. The private directed her blade into the man's neck at a forty-five degree angle. In seconds, he was silenced.

They had made quick work of the first two, successfully keeping their profile concealed to the other two scouts.

Andre made the signal to move forward and take out the other two at her discretion.

Halle held her blood-stained knife close to her body and crouch ran to the closest cultist. She pounced onto his back and slit his throat in a single stroke, the man fell forward into the snow.

The other cultist screamed, dropped his weapon, and attempted to run only to be greeted by the deafening growl of a revved chainsword. The blade appeared to materialize out of the falling snow. The fast-moving teeth came into contact with its victim's chest and proceeded to gnaw through flesh and bone.

Once Andre was finished, his target had been hacked in half.

Halle was breathing somewhat heavily; her scarf had drifted off of her face during the action. She could feel her heart pounding. Was this natural when one experienced their first kill? First blood?

Andre began to walk in the direction of camp.

Halle fixed her face scarf. "Sergeant! Shouldn't we bury the bodies so that they're not seen?"

He merely looked up. "In this snow?" The sergeant continued to walk on and motioned for her to follow. "We'd be wasting time and energy. Halle, nature will take care of that problem for us."

Thirty guardsmen were huddled around a small fire when Andre and Halle came over the adjacent hill. It took several minutes for Mina to distinguish the two figures that appeared in the haze and finally nodded to them when she recognized who they were. "So, what's the news, eh?"

Andre pulled his scarf down. "Oh yeah, they're coming. We just took out their forward patrol. It won't be long before they hit our position. Twenty or thirty at most. It should be an unfair fight favoring us."

Some of the troopers around the fire chuckled.

Sergeant Kris Romanov took a spot next to the other three standing soldiers. "So, what's the plan then?"

Andre pointed at the hill he and Halle had just descended from. "They're heading straight for us, they should be going right over that hill, but I say we beat them to the high ground and shoot down on 'em."

Mina and Kris agreed.

"But I do think we need to have one squad circle around to cut them off given that they're going to turn tail and run when they start getting shot at."

"We can do it." Kris said nodding. "Besides, we already have an established reputation for bayonet charges."

Mina laughed slightly. "Yeah. His men are best for that."

"You should start moving now, that way you'll be in position when the shooting starts."

Kris nodded and rallied his squad. As he and his men disappeared behind the long sheets of snow, Mina and Andre were forming their squads into a prone battle line across the hill top. Their pure-white Valhallan great-coats helped them to blend into the snowy terrain.

They all watched in quiet anticipation.

Andre slowly dug out his thermal magnoculars to confirm their enemies' approach and nodded to Mina. Both sergeants gave their squads hand signals to fire on their orders only.

In the gray of the falling snow, silhouettes began to emerge from the darkness. The first to walk into the kill zone was probably the sergeant wielding a chainsword like Andre's and seemed to be calling for his men to follow.

One by one they trekked into the firing range until roughly about half of the men were visible.

Halle clicked her lasgun into full auto double-checking the charge pack to make sure it was fine. The private trained her sights on the nearest cultist and watched in her peripheral vision for her sergeant to give the order to fire.

The unsuspecting Chaos scouts inched ever closer until Halle could see the blackness that made up their eyes.

Mina waved her hand and Halle squeezed her trigger.

In an instance las-beams began to cut through the snow and surprised screams rang through the still air. The man Halle had been aiming at bucked and shuddered as las-beam after las-beam shot through his body. His eyes appeared to roll back into his head as he collapsed to the ground.

As fast as she could, the private aimed at another soldier and started to fire. At the corner of her eye she saw that the Chaos sergeant had managed to find the source of the fire and charged up the hill unafraid, only to get into a dual with Andre.

Sparks flew as chainsword teeth clashed together, each wielder attempting to get an advantage over the other.

Some of the enemy soldiers were trying to fight back in a futile effort while others were running as Andre had predicted. In the distance Halle could barely make-out a Valhallan war-cry, probably Kris and his men re-routing the retreating soldiers.

Andre growled at the man who had his blade locked with his. The cultist leader's face was covered in disgusting piercings and tattoos depicting the symbol of Chaos undivided: the eight pointed star. By the God-Emperor's name there was no way he would lose to such a heathen.

He feigned a loss of control and his opponent almost yelped in victory unwittingly creating a hole in his defense. The cunning sergeant twisted his blade under the cultist's arms and in one fell stroke chopped the man's hands off; his chainsword hit the ground and slowly came to a deadening stop.

In a final attempt to at least injure his foe, the maniacal Chaos leader leapt for Andre and tried to pin him down with the nubs that used to be his hands. Andre side-stepped and easily avoided the attack; then he pulled his laspistol from its holster and made a single well-placed las-bolt into the back of the infidel's head.

It was quite an interesting sight.

The cultist that had decided to run, were now coming back into the fire zone, chased there by the charging squad of Valhallan soldiers from the other side. The rear attack had surprised them and it appeared that they would much rather be shot, than face the point of a well-polished bayonet.

The small engagement had lasted only several minutes. The majority of the enemies were killed, leaving six alive all of whom had surrendered.

Andre pulled two of them out of the group of kneeling men and instructed Vasily and Carson to take them to the 126th's Headquarters. Mina gathered everyone up to move back to camp.

One of the soldiers from Kris's squad called to the sergeants. "What do we do with these prisoners?"

Kris and Andre began to lead the soldiers away and Mina approached the guards. "We don't keep prisoners."

The men guarding the remaining four cultists looked at each other and understood what they needed to do. They firmly placed the barrels of their lasguns to the backs of the prisoners' heads. As some of them began to beg for mercy, four shots echoed through the valley.

Night was once again beginning to fall on the city. It had gotten considerably colder. As a result, to maintain body heat, Mina and Andre had pulled their squad's into the same room. Most of the twenty troopers had already fallen asleep leaving only a handful awake.

Mina was sitting quietly across the table from which Andre was writing in his journal. "What do you know that's so important to keep in your journal? You make an entry everyday."

Andre shrugged. "Dunno. It's a hobby I picked up from my girlfriend back on Valhalla. She gave me this journal and she said something that's stuck with me ever since: Write down everything that's happened. No matter how small it is, it's important. After all, you don't know how much longer you have to live." He rubbed the sleepiness out of his eyes. "I'm not quite sure why I still do it; I probably won't see her ever again anyway."

"You look terrible." Halle somewhat startled him.

"Eh, nothing I can't handle."

"When was the last time you got any sleep or had a good meal?" The private asked quietly.

Andre shrugged. "Can't remember."

Mina winked at Halle who smiled, "When was the last time you got laid?"

He looked up with a small smile. "Why? You offering?"

"Maybe I am? What would you do?"

"I wouldn't go for it."

"Why not, Andre? You could use a good time!"

"I'm not accustomed to getting in bed with my sister."

All three of them chuckled quietly. Halle sat down next to Andre and watched him as he wrote. A look of pure interest plastered her face as she watched his hand glide over the pages. "How long have you been doing this?"

"A couple of years, since I started the guard actually." Andre responded as he continued to write. The sergeant looked up from his journal and finally got the chance to sincerely look at the young private that was seated next to him. To his pleasant surprise, Halle was more appealing than he had first thought her to be.

Somewhere along the line, she had learned to roll up her rather long sleeves to improve her mobility. It partially exposed her skinny and fragile-looking hands; she was obviously built a small girl. He couldn't help but wonder how she passed training in the first place.

The absence of her helmet allowed him to examine her face. Halle had dark-blonde hair that fell down to her shoulders and her eyes were an intriguing shade of sparkling bright blue. She was an attractive woman in all aspects of the word's definition, so why did such a beautiful girl pursue the Guard? There were plenty of other things she could've done that didn't put her in harm's way, so why voluntary military service?

Mina sensed the tension in Andre's blank stare and excused herself to the bathroom.

"I'm curious, Halle." He tapped the open journal with his pen, "Why did such a young woman such as you join the Guard? I can understand Mina and the others in your squad. They were conscripted. But you? You could have lived a safer, more sheltered life than this."

"I'm well aware." Halle cracked her knuckles and relaxed into the chair's back. "I have my reasons of joining, of course. They're personal and, no disrespect intended sergeant, but I don't trust you enough to share them."

Andre was somewhat taken aback. That was not an answer he had expected from the former blue-collar private, but because she had been so firm with her response he did not push the matter further than that.

Several minutes of intense silence followed.

"I have to admit." The sergeant said out loud as he slowly closed his journal. "You aren't half bad with a knife, given the fact that you weren't trained in stealth tactics."

Halle gave him a small smile and a light shrug.

"So, how did you feel when you made your first kill? When you felt the archenemy's blood flow across your blade?" He folded his arms and looked at her intently. Her reaction would tell him whether or not she'd be fit to survive.

The private shuddered slightly and sighed. "Well, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would feel. I had the impression that killing people would scar your mind; I was very reluctant at first. But then I realized that these people probably weren't who they used to be and I should put them out of their misery." She shrugged. "I guess we could say we're doing them a favor. Emperor have mercy on their souls."

Again, Halle responded in a fashion Andre did not expect, but it pleased him nonetheless. Perhaps the young girl does have what it takes to be a very able guardsman. However, that skirmish wasn't quite a real battle, so he wasn't in a position to make any judgments. Yet.

That bloody first battle would soon be upon them.

Mina reentered the room and took the seat she had left several minutes ago only to discover that the tension she had tried to avoid was still in the air. In another effort to give them some time, she got up to prepare herself a kettle of caffeine. "Anyone want some? It'd help get rid of the stress."

Andre raised his hand for her to also get him a cup.

"What was her name?"

He looked up surprised. "What?"

Halle pointed at the now closed journal. "The girl you said that gave you your journal. Your girlfriend? What was her name?"

"Winona." The sergeant said with a small smile. "Winona Petrova, I just called her Winry for short though. Our families lived on the same floor of an apartment and Winry and I worked in the nearby factorium."

"Were any of you parents or grandparents part of the Imperial Guard before you? Anyone?" She asked leaning into the table using her elbows to prop up her head.

"Nope." Andre responded with a small, sarcastic chuckle. "My family had a long and well-established history of being an extensive line of skilled welders." He looked up at Halle. "I happened to be lucky enough to be the minimal age when the draft was issued. The recruitment officers, however, passed over Winry because she was a year too young and too weak to their eyes." Again he chuckled sarcastically. "Then, they gave me a total of three hours to say goodbye to all of my friends and family."

Halle frowned slightly and gently placed a hand on top of his. "Well, the good thing is that she'll be able to live a safe life back home on Valhalla, right?"

The sergeant smiled and nodded. "True. Thank the Emperor for that."

Mina returned with two steaming cups of caffeine and was somewhat shocked to find Andre tolerating Halle's touch. It was perhaps the first time in years that she'd seen Andre allow a woman to lay a hand on him. She sat down quietly and handed her fellow officer one of the mugs.

The private yawned and used her arm as a pillow, laying her head down on the tabletop.

"I found out we're going to begin our advance in a few days." Mina said to Andre. "Like the Colonel said, the 126th will be forming the lead rank of the battle group. We'll be relying on the 63rd's Vendettas and the 4067th artillery regiment for fire-support; according to command we'll be taking the brunt of the expected Chaos infantry charge."

"How do they know it'll only be infantry?" Andre sounded skeptical.

"They don't." Mina folded her arms and relaxed into the back of her chair. "I know exactly what you're thinking."

"Do you know where we'll be setting up?"

"There's a plain about twenty-seven kilometers out that's supposed to be the ideal staging ground. Headquarters hopes that we will be able to beat the archenemy there and be able to dig in before the bulk of the enemy forces arrive." The female sergeant slowly shook her head in frustration. "It's a huge gamble if you ask me."

"It's a dangerous gamble at that. The mechanized might be wiped out in the wrong type of situation." Andre picked up his mug and took one long sip of caffeine. "I hope they understand that we're ill-equipped to take on heavily armored vehicles."

"Same. I requisitioned for you to be on my flank seeing as you have a lascannon that can compliment my autocannon. And Jay's meltagun might come in handy as well if we get stuck in a rather tight situation."

Andre nodded in acknowledgment.

A peaceful quiet filled the room and the only sound that could be heard was that of the Imperial vehicles that zipped to and from various locations. A slight wind had picked up and it whistled lightly passed the boarded windows.

The seasoned veteran could tell that there was something on his friend's mind and whatever it was, it bothered her. "What's on your mind, Mina? You look a bit worried."

She checked to make sure Halle was asleep before she opened her mouth. "She seems enamored with you, you know? And from the looks of it, you seem to be growing attached to her. You let her touch you, and that's a big step after what I've seen."

Andre merely shrugged. "You're being ridiculous, Mina. Halle's growing to be like a little sister, not a lover."

Then again, he had to deliberate for himself. Halle was indeed a very attractive girl and only a year younger than him. Was he perhaps nurturing an attachment to her because her face reminded him of Winry? Was he falling in love with her?

Andre pushed the idea out of his mind. After all, there were more important things he should be thinking of.

The order had, in fact, been made later that same night. Halle had managed to pick-up bits and pieces of Mina and Andre's conversation before she had dozed off. Her sergeant had been correct and it was made an urgent issue for the 126th to mobilize as quickly as possible.

The battle plan had been finalized the night before and it called for the forward regiments to make all do haste toward their given objectives. If the fully-loaded Chimeras moved at their top speed, given the snow and wind, it would take them at least half a day to make it to the Vedell Plain where the frontline would be established.

Andre had pulled her aside before they left and told her to make sure that she was ready. According to him, the small skirmish she had experienced when they encountered the recon party would be nothing compared to the action she would probably see before the end of the coming week.

She was nervous beyond all recognition.

Squad Nine was standing at attention before the open hatch of their sanctioned Chimera and Mina was going through last minute checks. Only after double-checking and reconfirming that all of her troopers were present and their equipment was loaded did she give the order to get on board.

Halle shouldered her lasgun and looked up at the sky when she heard the deep sound of igniting vector-thrust engines. The dark profile of a trio of Vendetta gunships zoomed loudly overhead. Mina gently took the private by her arm and led her inside the awaiting vehicle. "That's the 63rd; they'll be in position by the time we arrive on site.

The APC's hatch closed with a metallic clank. Its engine started soon after and the Chimera began to move.

Halle took out her charge-pack from her lasgun and then reinserted it nervously. Her sergeant quietly and inaudibly whispered to her. "I'm about to give you a major responsibility. Due to the weather, the 4067th have to rely on ionic bursts instead of voxed coordinates." She handed her an awkward looking device that somewhat resemble a plasma gun. "If you judge that the area is getting too dangerous, point that straight up into the air and pull the trigger once. You won't see anything, but the artillery commanders will."

Taking it, she nodded and placed it into an easily accessible pocket on her great-coat.

"Don't forget that you have it, alright? That artillery may be the difference between life and death."

Over the grumbling engine, Halle could discern another group of aircraft flyover head. "Talila, how, exactly, are we going to 'dig in'?"

"We're going to try and build up a small ice wall." She responded with her helmet over her eyes. "Only tall enough to cover you if you're crouching. We don't have the type of supplies to build a sturdy defensive position, so we're going to have to make do with trenches and the like."Talila readjusted herself into a more comfortable position. "If I'm lucky, I'll be able to place some explosives out front to give 'em a little surprise."

"Would you need help?"

"Mm, I could use someone to cover me. You can tag along if you like."

The transport hit a bump that rocked the passengers in their seats. If her calculations were correct, Halle was estimating that they had another five or six hours before they arrived and she _really_ hoped they'd be the first ones there.

Only a few hours had passed since they had left Winiske and once again the wind had died down. The snow fell eerily onto the ground, the cold was biting and it forced Andre to be careful as he sat in the opened top-hatch of his Chimera.

His face was covered in two scarves, one covering the top of his head and another covering the bottom leaving his eyes uncovered but he wore a pair of ice-resistant goggles to protect them from the sharp, cold temperatures. Andre held his thermal magnoculars up against his face.

They were approximately eighteen kilometers from Vedell and luckily he had yet to see any movement except the occasional patrolling Valkyrie or Vendetta gunship. Turning to his left and right, he saw the distinct heat signatures of Squad Nine and Squad Three's Chimeras proceeding at their flanks.

The sergeant slipped back down into the vehicle and shut the top hatch as he did so. Shaking the snow off of his body, Andre pulled the scarf off his face to get a breath of warm air into his lungs.

"Anything, Andre?"Vasily asked him as quietly as he could.

He shook his head in response. "No, nothing. And it bothers me. You'd expect them to do something since we completely annihilated their scout squad. I would've thought they'd get moving."

Some of the troopers sighed nervously. There were two major possibilities and Andre didn't even want to speculate on since both of them were bad. It really didn't matter what happened. Either way, things were going to get very dangerous and very bloody.

Not to mention the infantry... They'll be in major trouble since he assumed that most of the battle would be fought between armored vehicles. Andre had a strange feeling in his gut that his squad's meltagun was going to see extensive use.

Halle wasn't sure if she was awake or if she was asleep, but her head was hurting. It seemed the confined space and strong fumes were finally getting to her head in the cramped compartment that made up the back of the Chimera.

Her lasgun sat idly in her lap and she struggled to focus her eyes so that she could make sure that the safety was on. She relaxed her head against the seat's back and sighed. What Andre had said to her before they had departed had been imprinted in her mind...

A strange tingly feeling shot down her spine at the idea of an early death. She had just turned nineteen several weeks ago and it was hard to imagine that perhaps she had only days to live.

_I want you to remember to be very careful,_ Andre had said to her, _it's going to be extremely dangerous. Most of the coming battles will not be a cake-walk. You'll probably kill lots of people and I'll guarantee you that most, if not all, of your comrades will not make it off-planet._

_I was lucky, Halle._ He paused for a long time._ Mina and I saw a lot of our friends die in our first years. We were _extremely_ lucky, thank the Emperor._ Then he smiled and gently squeezed her shoulder._ Let's hope that you are too._


	6. Chapter 5: In The Blink of an Eye

**Chapter Five: In the Blink of an Eye**

**Weather: Light Blizzard, Moderate Wind Predicted Temperature: -47˚C**

Halle took a thermos from inside her great-coat and took a quick sip of lukewarm caffeine to keep herself awake. They had worked the very moment they had arrived digging their make-shift line. To their surprise, they had arrived much earlier than expected, allowing them to construct a firmer defense than planned. It was her turn to watch the horizon and she had to fight her sleepy-urges in order to stay vigilant. The snow was sticky and for the fifth time the private wiped her combat goggles clean. Her squad mates were sleeping quietly behind her, thermal blankets pulled over their entire bodies.

An eerie silence hovered over the plain; the only sounds were conjured by the powerful winds. A strong gust forced Halle to catch her scarf before it flew off her face. She reached for the ground to make sure that her lasgun was there and was comforted when her hand made contact with the metal stock. Suddenly, something caught her eye, but after blinking several times the nineteen-year-old trooper realized that it was simply her imagination.

The low-pitched whine of a Vendetta threw her focus upwards.

Storm trooper regiments had been buzzing overhead all night and no news had come on the estimated time of arrival on the other sections of the battle group which left the 126th completely exposed. It would've been a lie if she said she wasn't afraid.

The light of an illuminated torch caused her to jump and quickly draw her nearby lasgun. The dark silhouette continued forward and Halle made sure to keep her gun poised on the approaching figure. When the person came into view, the young private saw the black number thirteen on his helmet and let the nervous tension drain out of her body; it was just Andre.

Quietly climbing into their trench, the sergeant ran a gloved hand across the lens of his goggles. Several minutes of silence followed in which neither of them talked, it was only after Halle offered him some of her caffeine that he pulled off his scarf. "Bullocks, its cold... Not even Cassadore was this bad."

Halle wasn't quite sure what to say to him, quietly taking the thermos when he was finished.

Andre looked down at all the sleeping forms. When he was done counting, the sergeant pulled a data-slate from his shoulder-bag and handed it to the private. "Hourly check-in, command wants to make sure that you guys are still alive." She nodded and punched in the numbers.

Josef emerged from the autocannon's position and signaled that Halle's shift was over.

The first thing that came to Halle's mind was a fresh cup of caffeine and she sub-consciously tugged Andre to follow her. Squad Nine had dug a small bunker into the ground which was covered by a heavy canvas supported by metal re-bars. Inside were boxes of ammunition, MREs, and the two-man autocannon. It was somewhat warm inside which allowed them to take off their headgear.

It was still very dark outside and, according to her chronometer, it would still be several hours before dawn. She sat down next to the veteran on top of a crate of autocannon shells. Seeing him politely smiling at her, the private smiled back. An awkward silence hovered over them in which Halle caught herself staring at her superior.

Andre chuckled, "You got something to say?"

"Oh – um – no..." Halle turned away flustered and somewhat embarrassed, _Oh, hell... what am I doing?_

"It's okay." He gently placed a hand on her shoulder and turned her so that she could see him. "I know you've got something on your mind. I'm a vet, Halle, you learn to see these kinds of things."

The dark-blonde headed girl turned light-headed, "Are you really from Brivana?"

Andre smiled and simply nodded.

Halle leaned towards him but didn't stop herself, shivering when he didn't shy away. There was a long, drawn-out pause in which Andre's sincere brown eyes met hers. In a slow and dragging instant she gently kissed him, smiling when she saw his flustered cheeks.

The sergeant smiled briefly, responded with a peck on her forehead, and gathered his belongings. "It's best if I should go. Emperor forbid, an attack would leave my squad leaderless."

The private simply smiled and, with a genial nod, Andre left.

He quickly made his way out of the dugout and pulled his goggles over his eyes, a tiny shiver went down his spine when he pictured Halle in the back of his mind.

The weather had eased somewhat, leaving a veil of darkness in the absence of the sheets of snow. It felt awkward to him, having Carson's lasgun in place of his favored chainsword. However, it did seem necessary for him to have some type of long-range weapon if he were ambushed. Andre balanced the weapon comfortably on his shoulder as he slowly trudged through the knee-deep snow.

An imperial aircraft buzzed loudly overhead and the Valhallan sergeant stopped to listen. But there was something that didn't quite sound right... When the vector-thrust impulse disappeared into the distance, Andre focused hard on the noises around him.

And there it was: a low, echoing rumble. A feeling told him that it was bad, but before he could fully react, a powerful explosion threw him off of his feet. A loud ringing deafened his hearing and a shocking blackness overcame him as he slipped out of consciousness.

There was almost no time to react. Spilling a cup of warm caffeine, Halle rushed out of the dugout with her lasgun on auto. Indiscernible orders called out in screams muffled by scarves was all she could hear, hitting the trench wall as another volley of artillery shells began to rain down from the sky. As the barrage continued undaunted, the young Halle held one of her hands on her helmet to keep it securely on her head.

A shell hit nearby and Halle's ears began to ring, looking up to see Mina pointing in the direction of the northeast face. It took the private a long time to realize that the northeast was where they needed to be aiming, Talila grabbed her by her loose sleeve and pulled her against the opposite wall.

Halle heard a loud whistle and turned just in time to see an explosive shell land at her feet.

"Lucky!" Talila said kicking it away. "If that wasn't a dud we'd all be dead!"

The loud ringing had subsided and Halle could now hear Mina screaming at the top of her lungs to hit cover, remain in cover, and stay in position until she gave the order to move. Minutes felt like hours and, finally, there was silence.

"Is everybody alright?" Mina called. "Is anybody injured? Roll call!"

...

The entire squad was present and were surprisingly unscathed.

Quickly, Mina drew her thermal magnoculars and pointed them towards the northeast. The sergeant scanned quickly and her silence was not reassuring. Something was going on and it was not good slowly crawled down to the rest of her squad. "I'm not sure how, but the Chaos battle-force managed to move in last night. It looks like the main group is already here."

Alisa stepped forward, wiping her goggles. "But, Mina, how did they sneak up on us like that? Wouldn't the 63rd or 29th have seen them? They were flying sorties all night!"

Their superior slowly shook her head. "I don't know, but you guys will learn that every enemy has their own secrets. The tyranids did it, and the archenemy is no exception. In some cases they may even be worse since they can actually think."

Halle kept her gun held tightly in her arms, more for a feeling of security rather than an expression of combat readiness. Then her thoughts traveled to Andre and she quietly wondered if he had survived the barrage just as she had. For some reason she had an uneasy feeling in her stomach.

It was strangely quiet. The barrage had ended just as fast as it had begun. Squad Nine was now up and active, each person was doing something to occupy their nervous energy as Mina fiddled with her vox-bead in order for it to work. She had been working on that infernal piece of junk for over an hour, and she seemed determined to find out what the plan of action was.

Halle was sitting quietly on the trench floor with her lasgun cradled in her lap. Sleep had come on and off, greatly affecting her ability to focus, she was afraid that it was going to get her killed. The small thermos of caffeine in her great-coat was empty. Her body muscles were tense and a nervous air hung around each of them.

The demolition officer sat next to her private comrade, a plasma IED held in her right hand. "Try to relax, Halle." She said fiddling with the charge's wiring. "Your muscles might freeze in combat if you don't. It'd be pretty bad if you couldn't move." There was a small pause in which Halle nodded. "So, do you have a thing for Andre?"

"What?" She sat up slightly startled, "What'd you say?"

"It's okay," Talila continued to mess with the charge. "You don't have to hide it. You kissed him didn't you?"

The private smiled underneath her scarf but did not respond.

"I knew it." She said with a chuckle. "Congratulations on breaking the unbreakable man!"

Mina smiled when she overheard, standing next to them with her defective vox-bead. "I wouldn't say that quite yet, Talila. Our little Halle still has a long way to go before we can say she broke him." The sergeant pulled her goggles off so that Halle could see her strangely violet eyes. "But, I do admit that something about you does click with him. What it is, I'm not quite sure."

Some inaudible noise forced Andre awake. The moment he began to regain his sense, a sharp and throbbing pain pushed angrily against the side of his head like a caged lion. He slowly opened his eyes, taking several minutes to let his sight adjust to his dark surroundings. Carson was nearby with her back towards him.

This wouldn't be the first time she'd saved his life.

He tried to sit up, but Carson quickly stopped him. "Don't, just yet, Andre. You need to lie down for now."

The darkness finally subsided, revealing the surroundings of Squad Thirteen's dugout. "What happened?"

"Chaos arrived late last night." She said over her shoulder. "Vasily found you, and from the looks of it, you were knocked out when a shell exploded next to you. Consider yourself lucky." Carson held up his helmet, a prominent dent could be seen on its side. "Your helmet prevented a fatal injury. All you received was a major concussion."

Death passed over him again, just like the hundreds of times before...

"Are Halle and Mina alright?"

"Yes sir. Mina checked in about half an hour ago. No casualties." The girl turned, holding a mug and stirring its contents. "This tonic should get you back on your feet by tomorrow."

Andre forced the liquid down his throat as Carson held the mug to his lips, it was thick and felt like syrup. She put the cup next to where he was lying, reminding him that he should get rest and return to command the next day. Watching her climb out of the dugout, he let out an elongated sigh.

Minutes turned to hours, but sleep did not come. His mind wandered, unsure of where it should settle. There was a plethora of concerns that orbited his thoughts. He delicately touched the bandage that was tightly wrapped around his head and he wondered if that was the cause of his headache and not the jumbled images in his brain.

The tarp had been pulled off of the lascannon, revealing a powerful white and gray painted heavy weapon. A crate of charged las-packs had been pried open and one already connected to the cannon's receptacle in heated anticipation. A battle would soon erupt and Andre and a very bad feeling about it festering at the bottom of his stomach. Something just didn't quite feel right.

It was obvious that thousands would die.

He struggled to sit up, grunting in pain as he did.

How many hours had he booked with the guard? How man minutes had he dedicated to defend the Imperium? If his calculations were correct, and he couldn't be sure because of his injury, Andre had spent a little over two-million minutes serving in the Imperial Guard. The night hours felt long and drawn-out. The sergeant still couldn't completely wrap his mind around the fact that he had lost an entire day passed out on the trench floor.

Then he thought of Halle. Such a young and bright girl... The first person he wanted to harbor a special connection with in a long time. Her beauty was absolutely stunning and her sparkling eyes were something he would not soon forget. It was then he decided to take up the responsibility of ensuring the nineteen-year-old private's safety.

An ambitious goal... but something ambitious was exactly what he felt he needed.

Ignoring Carson's recommendation, Andre forced himself out of the make-shift cot. All of his equipment was spread across a nearby table. The data-slate from his bag sat untouched nearby, spending a day knocked-out meant a day without crucial news. He took the bottle of rhazvod on the table and drank a sip while the slate buzzed into life. A warm alcoholic shiver shot down his spine.

Several messages were left unread. The first two were orders from command to initiate an immediate combat alert, but that was obviously already accomplished in the after math of that barrage. The final message was good news: The armor divisions were approximately a dozen kilometers out and would, with a huge amount of luck, would arrive early the next morning.

Andre emptied the bottle with a long, quick gulp, dressing into his scarves before walking out into his squad's trench. Carson immediately approached him, but he held up his hand to stop her. "No need. I'll be fine. If I die as a result of this concussion, I'll be sure to tell the Emperor it wasn't your fault." He took the dry rhazvod bottle and threw it into the fog.

Some of his troopers looked strangely at him.

Vasily waved them off. "It's a superstition of his. Luck." The heavy weapons soldier sat nearby loading his shotgun.

Luck...

You bet like hell you need luck. Everything can change in the blink of an eye.


	7. Chapter 6: Day One

**Chapter Six: Day One**

**Weather: Light Snow, Light Wind, Possible Blizzard Predicted Temperature: -54 C**

Bombardment had lasted all night with Chaos artillery firing in the distance with Imperial gun responding soon after. The 4067th artillery regiment was shooting blindly and only luck would guarantee an effective hit. Mina had received the executive message from command in which the tanks would arrive later that day, slowed down by heavy snow, thick mud, and shallow ice.

The range of the Earthshaker cannon was astounding. Captain-General of the battle group gad decided to halt the advance of the 4067th in order to give covering fire to the dug-in 126th, hopefully it was enough to curb the Iron Warriors long enough for the rest of the force to arrive.

Squad Nine had been on combat alert for the past nineteen hours resulting in an addition to an already serious lack of sleep. Talila was struggling to stay awake whereas Halle was solemnly energetic and alert, nervously clicking her lasgun on and off of its safety mode with an occasional sigh of worry.

The plain before them was now pock-marked with an uncountable number of craters. It was good that the 126th would now have over during their inevitable move forward, but it was bad in that the enemy would have the same exact advantages. Another barrage of enemy cannon fire shook the ground around her.

Mina pointed towards the enemy using hand signals to tell them that 2nd Company had just come under attack by enemy infantry and that she was expecting something soon to hit them. Halle tied her scarf tightly around her face, made sure that her goggles were secure, and that her chin strap was firm taking a firing position against the parapet of the trench. Her lasgun buzzed as she clicked it off of safety.

Looked down her sights, the private noticed her body was trembling vigorously and she couldn't quite figure out why. It was unusually quiet with only the sound of a light breezed to overcome the silence. The barraged had ceased with only the muffled echoes of the distant 4067th as a testament to the previous bombardment that had taken place on minutes ago. Halle took in a deep breath, shivering as the carbon dioxide left her body.

A strong storm was coming... She could feel it in the heavy air.

In an instant, the light flurry turned into a thick blanket and the breeze became a strong, whirling gust. Line of sight was severely limited, forcing Mina to fumble with her bulky magnoculars. The sergeant held up three fingers signifying at least thirty armed cultists moving in their direction. Halle readied herself by firmly pressing the stock of her rifle against her shoulder. Another click into automatic fire.

The snow was beginning to stick to her lens; she had to take a minute to clean her goggles so that she could see. There was a small flash in the grey abyss that Halle didn't quite recognize, jumping when several specks of dark red spray spattered on her goggles. She turned in time to see Alexa, the sharpshooter, hit the trench floor, clutching her neck, gurgling slightly, and with a pool of blood forming around her.

Halle looked up to see if anyone had noticed the trooper go down, but the other seemed to focused on returning fire. The sharpshooter was losing a considerable amount of blood, it was obviously a serious wound. Quickly, Halle plugged it with her thumb once she had convinced her squad mate to move her hands. Alexa had been hit with a small caliber stub gun which meant that it was treatable, but Halle had to remove the bullet as fast as she could.

Keeping the artery plugged, the private used her other hand to search through her bag for a bandage and a looked nervously up at her comrade as Halle pulled her goggles of so that she could see. The seconds that followed felt like hours as she took her hemostat and carefully, but efficiently, pulled the crumpled bullet out of her friend's neck, re-plugging the wound as soon as the grip was clear.

Using one hand, Halle worked to tightly wrap a bandage around her squad mate's neck.

"Grenade!"

She bent over Alexa to protect her from the explosion, clods of thick ice and dirt hit Halle's back causing her to wince slightly in pain. Looking up to see if it was clear, the private made sure Alexa would remain still and refrain from speaking. It was important that the sharpshooter move as little as possible in order for the synth-skin to do its work.

As Halle turned to retake her position, another scream caught her attention.

Marie slid down against the trench wall, clutching her arm with a powerful grimace. Halle went up to her to make sure she was alright. Private O'Conner nodded to her fellow trooper and began bandaging her own arm.

Halle picked her lasgun back up and reassumed her firing position. Small flashes were coming from dark shapes in the distance and it was obvious that they were the source of fire. Her squad mates were firing back in rejoinders of las-fire. The enemy got closer with each volley they fired.

A grenade rolled right in front of her, she quickly ducked to take cover. The explosion left a blackened crater in the thick ice. She looked just in time to see five, ugly cultists charging maniacally at the trench. Downing two with will placed las-shots, Halle was about to take down a third, but he managed to tackle her to the ground.

Her helmet fell off with a clunk as the Chaos soldier struggled to kill the Imperial trooper before him. His blade came within inches of her neck, curbed only by the lasgun that blocked his arm. Halle struggled, finally managing to kick him off of her and slamming her rifle butt into his face. The cultist reared back, clutching his bleeding nose in pain.

In the corner of her eye she saw one of the other cultists get disintegrated by Josef's shotgun.

Before Halle could even react, another cultist was already coming after her. He knocked her lasgun out of her hand, trying to prevent her from drawing her knife. With his steaming breath fogging up her winter goggles, Halle had to fight on instinct. She could feel herself slowly losing.

And then, deliverance.

Mina's blade growled and came straight down into the cultist's back, making a sickening grinding sound when it made contact.

"Mina?" She heard Kristof call, "We've got a major problem!"

"What is it?"

"A pair of Predators is heading straight for us! I think they've got assault cannons!"

She heard the giant twin-linked gatling guns revving in the distance. They needed armored support and they needed it now. "Everybody down!"

The sound of breaking glass forced Andre awake, drawing his chainsword and alerting his squad to the imminent danger. He pulled out his magnoculars and looked over the horizon in a single sweep. Cultists, moving forward in the darkness, had unwittingly stepped on the glass rhazvod bottle he had thrown into the snow hours before. Squad Thirteen hit the wall with Vasily priming the embanked lascannon. Venson, the Chimera's gunner, jumped into the turret and charged the multi-laser.

A volley of gun-fire forced them to take cover, returning fire seconds later in a series of bright red flashes. There was a low concussive sound indicating the ignition of a shoulder fired rocket. "Everybody get down!" The krak missile slammed into the side of the Chimera with an explosive thud. Andre yelled into his vox-bead. "Venson! Get back! Get back! We cannot afford to lose the Chimera!"

The APC started up and retreated into the dark grayness. Another rocket flew harmlessly overhead. Andre walked up and down his line, encouraging his troopers to keep up a hot, pinning, masking fire. Occasionally, the veteran sergeant would take his pistol and fire with them. After several minutes, Andre could feel the enemy running towards them. He firmly grabbed his sword in both of his hands.

Carson saw the cultists coming and inserted a las-pack into her gun in preparation. She turned just in time to see Andre climb out of the trench, cutting the opposing sergeant down with one fell stroke. The Bear of Brivana, the Hell's Angel of the 126th, had been unveiled. In a series of artistically grotesque movements, the sergeant of Squad Thirteen performed an intricate sword dance of utter death. It took the Chaos soldiers several minutes to reorganize.

By the time the squad of cultists had re-initiated the attack, Squad Thirteen had already moved into the counter-attack. Private Ryderson moved in behind Andre, stabbing his bayonet into the throat of the closest archenemy, gouts of blood shot out of the entrance wound in the side of his neck.

Spotting another man moving to take advantage of Ryderson's temporary weakness, Carson leaped to save her fellow private. Jumping up and into a sprint, Carson bowed her head down and smashed the man in the stomach as she tackled him into the thick snow. With one hand, she punched him in the face taking the other to pull off her helmet and use it as a blunt weapon. The private hit the man three times before taking her bayonet and ending his misery.

She looked up in time to see Andre cut a diagonal line from a cultist's waist all the way up to his shoulder. It was gut-wrenching, the sergeant was unnaturally brutal in his ways, being sure that each move he made resulted in an instant kill, he wouldn't take risks by simply wounding his opponent. Andre, at one point or another, would drive his blade as deep into the body of his target as he possibly could, ensuring immobilization at least.

The remaining two or three cultists turned tail and ran. Thirteen wanted to give chase, but Andre stopped them. Carson picked up her lasgun from the snow and joined the squad in their huddle.

Private Ryderson held up his hand. "Sir, if we give chase now we can at least eliminate that squad of pagans from combat! We could easily kill them all!"

"But it's foolish, John." Andre Responded wiping splotches of blood off of his goggles. "We have no idea what could be over the crest of that hill. Whatever it is could probably kill us too." A familiar sound caught his ear. "Everybody down!"

Assault cannon bullets kicked up the frozen dirt and snow in huge chunks around them. An enemy Predator somewhere deep in the fog had pin-pointed their position and found it appropriate to pin them down with torrents of heavy machine-gun fire. Andre knew all too well that those assault cannons would rip his men apart. Crawling as fast as his body would let him, the sergeant worked his way towards the lascannonVasily was working to prime.

Andre found his heavy weapons soldier with a pair of magnoculars staring into the fog with a profusely bleeding arm. There was a short pause in gunfire in which Andre called to his comrade, "Vasily! We're pinned down by an enemy vehicle!"

"I know! I know!" Vasily yelled as the assault cannons restarted their hail of fire.

Andre looked through the hole that they had dug for the lascannon's barrel to poke through and finally decided that this wasn't going to work. "Can you lift anything with your arm?"

"Yeah! Why?"

Andre started disconnecting the links from the lascannon's power-pack. "We're moving this thing forward!"

The sergeant did not have to repeat himself. Vasily instantly began to pack up the weapons main compnents, sliding the barrel off and folding the tripod. Once Andre grabbed the front end, Vasily took a good hold of the back and the ran out of the foxhole and to a snow dune that had a good vantage point of the battlefield. Most of their vision was still obscured, but the fog was light enough for Vasily and Andre to establish a good line of sight on the enemy vehicle.

Another heavy barrage of high-caliber shells pummeled the area where Squad Thirteen was still taking cover. Through the thick fog, Andre could make out the dark silhouette of what must have been a Blood Angel's Baal Predator. He pulled out his magnoculars.

"Andre! Range!"

"Range: Approximately forty-five to forty-eight meters! Just inside the kill-zone!"

Vasily took several long seconds to aim and then the heavy weapon exuded a bright beam of light. A large flash indicated a successful hit, but the continuous sound of fire told the pair of soldiers that the enemy tank was not yet destroyed. Another long pause was accompanied by the sound the lascannon's humming recharge.

Finally another shot flashed from the barrel of the gun and seconds after the powerful beam made contact with the side of the tank, the Baal Predator exploded in a brilliant flash.

Halle let out a relaxed sigh. A wounded Alexa lay asleep at her feet, her blood-stained overcoat draped over her body. The sharpshooter would be alright as long as she refrained from doing any major physically demanding task for the next several days, which meant she'd be confined to the inside of the Chimera until Mina deemed her fit enough to fight.

It had gotten very cold in the past several hours. Andre and Mina were tucked around the warmth of a nearby hot-plate.

Squad Nine had been pinned down by a pair of predators: one with a twin-linked assault cannon and the other with a heavy autocannon. If Thirteen hadn't intervened, Nine would probably had been eliminated by the heavy fusillade of cannon fire.

Silence dominated the air, the young private got up and made her way to where Andre and Mina sat. News came in that the armored companies were only several hours out now and that the next day the entire battle group would mobilize into the attack.

Assisting Thirteen, Nine, Seven, and Two on the eastern approach would mainly be the 433rd armored. Thirteen and Nine would specifically be backed by 4th Company under the daring command of Captain Jennifer Rainer.

Both Andre and Mina were quiet, smiling when Halle took a seat between them. The looks on their faces expressed worry, doubt, and even fear. But that's why Halle admired them so much. She was amazed with how well the two veteran conscripts-turned-sergeants could handle the stressful responsibility of commanding their soldiers.

It was a miracle that they could handle such a responsibility. Halle could never do that.

What was worrying her was the upcoming attack. They were going to be the ones leading the charge and it sent a frightful shiver down her spine.

Tomorrow morning was when the real action would start in earnest. The fighting would be intense and the casualties would be extremely high. One question remained embedded deep in the back of Halle's mind: Would she be able to survive?


	8. Chapter 7: Attack

**Chapter Seven: Attack**

**Weather: Light Snow, Fast Wind Predicted Temperature: -52˚C**

The Captain of 443rd's armored company was what one could describe as extremely charismatic. Halle had been awake with Mina and Andre when Jennifer's lumbering Leman Russ rolled in. Her tank was painted completely white, making it hard to distinguish in the nighttime air.

Jennifer seemed a high-spirited person, hell-bent on the belief that the mere idea of the army of the Emperor losing was blasphemy.

Andre and Mina stood partially off to the side as Jennifer began to coordinate attack formations between the various squad leaders of her tanks.

Halle was off in the distance, admiring the powerful punisher gatling cannon that was mounted on Jennifer's Leman Russ. Mina walked up beside him and noticed her fellow sergeant staring in the direction of the nineteen year-old private. "She acts fast and with a cool head..."

Andre turned to her, "What did you say?"

"She acts fast." Mina chuckled. "That girl single-handedly saved my sharpshooter with no help or instruction. I know they teach first aid and all at the Academy, but to be able to put it straight to good use on the battlefield takes a lot of good, quick thinking talent. Alexa's gonna be out of the fight for quite a while, but at least she's not dead."

There was something about that girl that made her a bit different from the others. Andre checked his chronograph. "The attack will begin in another couple of hours. It's best if you get everyone ready now." He turned to his comrade in arms. "We'll see tomorrow if Halle's lucky then and it would truly be the Emperor's blessing if at least half of us make it through the assault on Dothen."

"Don't worry so much. We've been through some pretty hard shit and survived. Just you and me. I don't see why we couldn't live through this one. After all, we've been through hell and back." Mina patted his shoulder and began to walk in the direction of her revved Chimera.

This would be a strange experience for most of them. During his time, Andre had never been on the offensive. And the idea of attacking a Chaos stronghold seemed more than suicidal. But it was something they had to do. But getting to Dothen was not going to be easy. Several lines of elite Chaos foot infantry and vehicles stood between them and the city and it would take several days to successfully punch through each and every Emperor-forsaken enemy line.

Tomorrow they would attempt to breach the outer defenses.

At 0900, the 4067th would begin a sustained artillery barrage for three hours. Once the chronometer hit 1200, the attack would begin in earnest with the 126th mechanized leading the charge to punch through the eastern most section of the line. It was anticipated that the 126th's attack supported by the 443rd armored would collapse the flank and make it easier on the main force attacking down the center. It was considered extremely crucial that the line broke all at once, there could be no possibility for the enemy to reinforce or the entire battle group would eventually lose the initiative and fall back.

In the long run, guardsmen don't stand a chance against full-blown and over-sized space marines...

Andre used his chainsword to lean on as he watched his squad move all of their equipment back into the Chimera. The tension hung high in the air. Even amongst veterans, the pressure of facing the archenemy head-on was grueling. The stories that floated around the battle group were gruesome in the least. Not as brutal as the tyranids of course, but brutal in their own horrendous and chaotic ways.

Eujenia Mathews, the sniper for Squad Four, quietly watched Sergeant Andre Malicov carefully from her high perch on top of Four's Chimera. They served together on Cassadore, back when he was impromptu head of Squad Seven. Jena was a new recruit then, coming in half-way through the campaign and if it weren't for Andre's watchful eye, she'd probably be dead.

Ever since then, Jena aspired to always be with him, but that wench Mina always got in the way! On top of that, she's been hearing stories and rumors of some new girl who's macking on him now.

Jena shuddered angrily at that thought.

Thirteen had finished loading and were already prepared to move. Vince Tarver, Four's special weapons officer, motioned for her to get down. "Jena, we're getting ready to go. You should strap yourself in." He held his hand out to help her off and she took it, gently sliding off of the Chimera's back. "You were watching him again, weren't you?"

She silently walked into the transport and took her seat, wrestling briefly with the safety harness.

Vince took the seat next to her, pulling the lever that closed the door behind them, "You shouldn't be torturing yourself like that. It's _really _unhealthy," He turned to her, "and don't let whatever's on your mind distract you, cuz if we fuck up, we're dead."

"I'm not torturing myself." She snapped back at him. "And I know full well the ramifications of my losing concentration!"

He shrugged at her. "Hey, I'm just saying. It's not worth you stressing over that guy. Do you really think he's _that_ great?"

Jena shot him an irritated glare.

_He won't ever understand..._ She thought to herself. _They don't get it at all! Andre's my savior. If it weren't for him... _Jena shivered nervously. _I can barely even fathom the idea of how I would have died. But Andre saved me and I will be forever in his debt._

The attack had begun in an instant, faster than Halle had time to react. Before she knew it, the hydraulic ramp at the back of the Chimera fell and the sounds of gunfire and battle erupted into the tiny transport compartment. The private was one of the first ones out; making sure the area was clear before the rest of them proceeded out. To their immediate right, Thirteen had already deployed. Andre worked fast, and before long his squad was already advancing forward.

Once Nine had rallied, Mina led them forward. A large knoll blocked their visual on the impeding Chaos line. Squads Four, Six, Nine, and Thirteen met just before the crest of the hill. Andre was already on top, scouting with a pair of magnoculars. Several minutes before the 126th had arrived, the 433rd Armored had already engaged the enemy and from the sounds over the hill, Halle deduced that the action was heavy.

The other three sergeants met up with Andre at the top, too far for Halle to hear what they were saying. An artillery shell exploded somewhere behind, throwing dirt and ice in all directions. After several seconds of intense deliberation, Mina returned to her squad, that look of combat-high in her eyes...

"1st and 2nd platoons have already initiated their attack; we will soon follow once Captain Rainer of the 433rd's 4th Company makes a decent advance." Mina paused briefly when a mortar shell hit the side of the hill. "We're going to have to move fast, so keep up with me and don't fall behind."

Nine formed up in a traditional firing line, keeping their heads low under the apex of the hill. Halle could feel her heart pounding inside her chest and it was if her head was going to explode. A nervous energy flowed through her body.

She was afraid.

It all had happened so fast. There was no definitive signal, but when Halle saw Mina begin to sprint, it was enough for her to follow suit. The actual scene of a battlefield had not been what the private had expected and it was definitely nothing like the simulations she had grown through back in her academy days.

Chaos space marines were much larger than she had imagined and she took a second to look over the line of silver-armored soldiers. They were huge and it appeared as if they were laughing at the Imperial Guard as their las-bolts bounced harmlessly off of their reinforced adamantium armor. And for a moment, she thought she saw one of them single-handedly firing a heavy bolter! Halle did not stop she ran as fast as her legs could take her, bullets and shrapnel flying all around her.

Suddenly she heard someone call out her name and she looked up.

A hulking, fully-equipped Iron Warriors space marine was staring straight down at her. All of a sudden, fear got the best of her and Halle froze. She was stunned by the prospect of death itself. Time slowed as he raised his bolter, the large caliber barrel pointed at her chest.

_Don't be scared..._

There was a flash of bright light and Halle could have sworn that she was dead. She opened one eye, only to discover that the once twisted soldier of Chaos undivided now lay at her feet, incinerated by a signal lascannon shot. Halle didn't linger to find out where the Emperor's protection had come from, she had to keep moving.

Mina and the rest of Squad Nine were only a few yards ahead of her. They had successfully penetrated the outer layer of the line thanks to some amazing support by the 433rd. It was now up to the 126th to cripple the remaining forces, most of whom were traitor PDF or untrained citizen soldiers, but Chaos had numbers on their side which meant that it would take a considerable amount of work to clear them out.

Halle followed her squad into the nearest trench and was confronted almost immediately. A traitor PDF soldier tried to bring his outdated stub-rifle down on Halle like a club, but her fast reflexes blocked the blow with her own lasgun. They struggled for control until Halle managed to pull her combat knife from her belt and stick it into the man's thigh. Screaming in pain, he fell to the ground clutching his leg. Halle brought her rifle stock heavy against the side of his head and then he was silent.

Before she got a chance to catch her breath, another PDF officer began to charge at her. With barely a single thought, Halle pulled her knife out of the dead man's leg and threw it as hard as she could at his charging comrade. The serrated blade drove itself deep into the victim's torso, blood gushing from the entrance wound.

Running, Halle pulled her blade out of the body and sheathed it. With rifle pointed forward, the private ran her bayonet straight through the first PDF that happened to be in her way.

She cut her own swathe through the seemingly endless waves of Chaos-loyal disciples. One after the other, Halle stabbed, jabbed, shot, punched, and cut her way through until Nine had finally met with Thirteen who were cut short in a bottle-neck trench fork.

Andre was standing in the very middle of the intersection, chainsword humming through flesh, lopping off limbs, and sawing weapons in half. His white trench coat was soaked with splotches of red blood. Halle was able to look up just in time to see a man sawed in half by Andre's brutal melee power.

The fighting continued to grow more and more intense as the forces of Chaos began to simply throw themselves into the fray, often times charging into their own deaths. Imperial firing lines cut holes through the enemy while melee troops slashed through men and specialized weapons troopers engulfed the enemy in fire and molten slag.

When the fighting had finally trickled down to only small pockets of resistance, the trenches were littered with bodies both Chaos and Imperial alike. The ground was pock-marked with black craters and destroyed vehicles. It was hard to imagine that this was simply a prologue of what was to come.

They spent several hours going through each and every nook and cranny to make sure that every single one of their enemies had been executed in one way or another. Halle had tailed Mina, and every time she fired a laspistol shot into a soldier, Halle followed it up with jab from her rifle bayonet.

Nine gathered near a wrecked Chaos predator with Thirteen and Four nearby, but instead of the nine soldiers that should have shown, only seven were there. Mina quickly informed them that their comrades were alive but not well. Marie had been incapacitated by a piece of shrapnel to her upper torso while Talila was injured when a nearby vehicle exploded, throwing her several meters into the blown-out wreckage of another tank.

The attack had been a success, with only minimal casualties sustained. Perhaps the most intense fighting took place after the 78th Recon and 63rd Grenadiers deep-striked into the rear of the enemy line, coming face to face with several squads of Chaos terminators.

Halle saw Andre and couldn't help but be distracted. However, something felt strange. Something didn't feel quite right...

Just barely, in her peripheral vision, she could see someone staring at her. Halle could feel that burning gaze so focused on her body that she didn't have to look up.

Whoever that girl was, she was carrying a customized las-rifle and a four was stitched into the sleeve of her upper-right arm. Obviously she was Squad Four's sharpshooter. The main problem she had with her was that she was staring at Halle and Halle had no idea why...

Andre, Mina and Rike marched together in a formed line, their respective squads following closely behind their commanding officers. He had his chainsword strapped to his bag and his laspistol holstered. Today had been a lucky day. His squad had received only one wound which was a slash across Ryderson's arm.

But most importantly, Halle had come out of the battle completely unscathed.

It was obvious to him now and he could no longer deny the facts, he had fallen in love with Halle. Mina could see it as well as Vasily, but if Halle knew was a mystery.

His thoughts were disturbed when Mina gently tugged at his sleeve. "Andre," she whispered, "That girl Eujenia is watching you again..."

_Really? Again? _Andre turned around to see if she was telling the truth and frowned when he found out she was.

He couldn't help but wonder what was on Jena's mind. They did serve together back on Cassadore and he did save her life, but it felt strange knowing the she's always wanted something more from him.

Halle made her way up to where he was marching and took a spot up next to him. There was a tiny smile on her face underneath the scarf, he could tell with the confidence she had in her stride.

Then the idea hit him.

Maybe Jena was upset because he found a connection with someone else? It was a long shot, but it wasn't a completely implausible idea. Besides, that look on her face was really starting to bother him. Her eyes seemed so full of anger and the muscles in her body looked like they were perpetually stiff.

For once, Andre didn't feel safe among his own peers. Jena's stare was burning into his back.

When Mina and Andre finally got a chance to be alone together in the forward camp, they couldn't help but deliberate on what Jena was thinking. That look could kill and it was worrying them. It wasn't in his nature to confront her about it; it simply could mean something completely different.

Playing safe was just his nature.

Meanwhile, Andre always made sideways glances to make sure Halle was safe or okay. She was field-stripping her lasgun by the light of a small lantern, cleaning her rifle and then doing it again to make sure she didn't miss anything the first time.

Squad Thirteen was camped next to their sanctioned Chimera, gathered around a small but obviously effective thermo-ion heater. Jay was off to the side, a lho stick jutting out from the side of his mouth and his meltagun swinging loosely from his shoulder while Vasily and Dmitri were playing a card game on top of the lascannon's carrying case.

Andre stood with Mina off to the side, taking out a small canteen of vodivilisk out from inside his coat pocket and took a sip. The two of them stood in silence for a long time.

Today seemed too easy. He could only imagine how bad it was going to be when they final got to Dothen. It was going to be a massacre, even with a little over 80,000 soldiers, the battle group will be lucky if a little over a fourth of them survive. In his silent calculations Andre understood that the percentages were dismal.

He appreciated how Mina respected his silence and handed her his canteen. She took a tiny sip and handed it back to him.

Dothen was still several clicks out, but Andre could swear he saw something large looming in the distance. Normally, before the forces of Chaos came, you could have seen the city from where they were camped, the lights illuminating their surroundings in a huge kilometer-wide bubble. It would have been a very impressive sight.

Things have been dark for a while now and there existed little hope of any Emperor-loyal citizens surviving the Iron Warrior purges that were probably more than common.

Mina stood off a couple of feet away from him, arms folded, shoulders tense, and nervously tapping her thumb against her arm. If she had something to tell him, he wasn't going to push her into doing so.

The silence proceeded until she stepped forward, rather reluctantly, and whispered into his ear, "What are you going to do about Jena?"

That was a good question. The thought hadn't really crossed his mind since they settled into camp. It was probably because he wanted to push it to the rear of his head and save it for later; he had already too much to focus on. One problem about one somewhat-crazed girl could wait for now. "I'm not really too sure yet. I hadn't thought about it."

Mina looked around to be sure no one was listening in. "You should."

With that she walked off in the direction of her squad leaving Andre in the silence of his thoughts.

High above Valetron the Apocalypse class battleship, _Thor's Hammer_, maintained a steady orbit along with the 32 other ships that comprised the Imperial Navy's _Winterwind _Task Force. Admiral Saoirse McCarron stood facing the planet below her. Valetron's snowy terrain reflected the light off of the star Caliston, casting an eerie look on the _Hammer_'s dark gray paint scheme.

The Imperial Guard battle group had made planet fall several days ago and Saoirse couldn't find out exactly why Segmentum Command had ordered her to remain in orbit. Orbital bombardments were a given, but what else could they possibly run into out here in this sector of space? It was already strange enough that the Iron Warriors were on the planet and the likelihood of a Chaos fleet warping in was nearly impossible. The forces of Chaos usually never penetrated this far from the Eye of Terror.

No aircraft, besides their own Vendettas and Valkyries, had been spotted. It was apparent that air support wasn't what Command had in mind either. Even at that, they were already risking a lot of manpower. Flying in Valetron's blizzards, sudden snow-storms, and the like was near suicidal. The characteristic sticky snow of the planet had the problems of clogging vector engines and sticking to wind-shields.

She saw her reflection in the glass and straightened her medaled uniform. Fleet command must be expecting something if they sent such a large force to this sleepy planet in the middle of nowhere. It's not often you would see two battleships in the same task force.

Saoirse and Lord-General Valerian, commander of the 43rd Valhallan battle group, went back a long way. The 43rd was responsible for driving Hive Fleet Taimut off of Cassadore and it was under her command that the task force had destroyed what was left of their fleet. Saoirse had to admit that she and Valerian made a good team.

When she first heard that her task force would once again be assigned to the 43rd, she couldn't help but feel grateful for it, especially since it was in the middle of nowhere and no major fleet presence had been reported. Saoirse figured that it would be an easy drop-off mission and return when the Guard was finished.

However, that's not how it turned out to be. On the day they arrived in orbit, a crucial message came through ordering the fleet to remain in geosynchronous orbit over the planet. It had been so sudden, that, at first, she thought it was simply a clerical error and it had been a mistake. That assumption went out the window when she found out it was directly addressed to her.

Orders were orders.

It was unnerving. Saoirse always hated being blind in a fight. Something was coming and it was big.

Jena sat by her squad's thermo-ion heater, her long-las disassembled and in pieces before her. Squads Four and Six had done a good job of making a hole through the Chaos preliminary defense. Their sharpshooters and snipers provided cover for Nine and Thirteen as they made their initial attack.

The barrel of her long-las was stained a dark black and she scrubbed at it with her rag. The action had been heavy, the most kills she had ever gotten in a single battle. She and Valeri, the second sharpshooter of Four, had claimed at least seventy-eight kills by themselves and that's not counting the three snipers in Six.

With her barrel spotless, Jena moved to her gun's interior chamber.

Vince joined her and handed her a cup of caffeine, his flamer slung around his back and his belt of promethium tanks clanking as he sat down. Dark grime covered his face, obviously blackened by the flamer's carbon residue.

For awhile they sat in silence, him sipping his caffeine and her cleaning her long-las. It wasn't long until Jena was finished and the silence was filled with the metallic clinks characteristic of reassembling a well-taken care of lasgun.

She had seen that girl, Halle, for the first time today the insignia of a private glaringly obvious. That single bar represented her inexperience, her lack of combat prowess. What did he see in her that she lacked? There was nothing special about her that Jena could see. She slid her rifle stock into place with an irritated shove.

"You alright, Jena?" Vince asked, eyebrow raised.

She faked a smile, "Yeah, I'm fine. Just a bit nervous is all."

"Nervous?" He chuckled. "You're not one to be nervous. What did you make? Sixty-three kills today? That's impressive. I'm so used to my flamer, I can barely fire a lasgun. I guess that's the price I have to pay for using this thing." Vince affectionately tapped the weapon strapped securely to his back.

Jena reached for her mug of caffeine and took a long, relaxing sip. The warmth that engulfed her body was a welcome feeling compared to the freezing cold of Valetron and its frigid climate. She looked up at the looming shapes in the distance.

In her silence, a plan started to formulate in her head.

Very soon, the 43rd battle group would be within striking distance of the city and the attack on Dothen would begin.

Lord-General Valerian Krukof stood over the map of Dothen, his staff of generals gathered around the tiny table with him. Preliminary reports had been very vague, with the 78th Valhallan Recon deeming it too dangerous to make a pass over the Dothen for the reasons that their auspices were acting strangely when they approached 15 kilometers from the city. One thing was determined, however, a large wall of ice nearly a dozen kilometers high surrounded the city with an indeterminable thickness.

Father Greg had advised Valerian that the forces of Chaos were beyond his comprehension. The Lord-General must destroy the Iron Warriors here lest the bent forces of the warp take over the planet and spread uncontrollably to the other cities.

So far Dothen has been an isolated event. Most of Valetron's citizenry had no idea that Chaos was here, only that the PDF forces had increased their presence in the streets and an Imperial battle group had arrived on planet. It was impossible to cover-up the forces' arrival. The 43rd was simply just too large at full strength.

Valerian had no doubts of their victory. He commanded eight regiments of specialized mobile troops, three compliments of elite reconnaissance soldiers and storm troopers, twenty complete veteran armored regiments, ten fully functioning regiments of artillery, and three rare super-heavy tank regiments.

Over nearly a million fighting men and women equipped with over several thousand armored vehicles were prepared to follow his every order. Valerian had one of the greatest examples of the Emperor's many cleansing hammers at his command.

Segmentum Command had even authorized the use of an unprecedented amount of Manticore rocket and Deathstrike missile power. If he so desired, Valerian could make an order to destroy the entire city in one barrage. Orders had been, however, to retake the city at any cost.

In a private transmission it was also confirmed that the Imperial Navy taskforce orbiting high above would remain in orbit over Dothen willing to provide orbital support when deemed necessary by either himself or one of his several staff-generals

With the unconditional support of Admiral McCarron in space, Valerian was more than confident of his crushing triumph.


	9. Chapter 8: 0300

**Chapter Eight: 0300**

**Weather: Moderate Snow, Fast Winds Predicted Temperature: -50°C**

Late that night at nearly 2300, after hours of frantic and bloody fighting, the 43rd had advanced within nearly several dozen kilometers of Dothen, a line of tanks created an impenetrable wall of armor to the south of the city. Nearly six thousand Leman Russ battle tanks of all variants were poised to begin their assault. Lord-General Valerian, however, ordered a massive bombardment upon Dothen before the final attack was started.

Andre stood atop his Chimera with a pair of thermal magnoculars pointed towards the newly-walled city. From the parapet of the hill they were parked on, several kilometers below them, the Iron Warriors were gathering. An innumerable amount of enemy tanks were aligned to brace against the impending Imperial attack and he couldn't help but wonder what else Chaos had in store for them.

If they had this much prepared already, there was no telling the full number of their actual taskforce.

He pulled the scarf tighter across his face, feeling his breath freezing on the outside of the heavy cloth. Thick snow continued to stick to his goggles, Andre habitually wiping them clean with his gloved hand. Stress ate away at his mind, preventing him from falling asleep. Like the man he was, Andre remained awake sitting atop the turret of the multi-laser.

Several hours later, the artillery began its bombardment, slowly at first, with repeated patterns of coordinated gunfire but eventually growing into a hailstorm of cannonade. The familiar scream of Basilisks and the characteristically low grumble of Colossus Siege Mortars filled the air. Heavy power of the Medusas would be used where it was most effective, close proximity to enemy formations.

At about 0130, the super-heavy regiments rolled in. The thunderous power of the Baneswords' Quake Cannons slammed against Dothen's walls creating gigantic fireballs against a dark background.

Snow crunching beneath heavy boots alerted him. Grabbing the flashlight from his belt and pulling his las-pistol out of its holster, Andre turned in the direction of the sound. Freckles of snow initially blotted out the standing figure whose hands were raised. It took awhile for his eyes to adjust before recognizing the white 'nine' painted on the person's helmet. The tenseness flowed out of his shoulders when he realized that it was Halle.

Andre helped her climb on top of the vehicle and she sat next to him throwing her lasgun across her back. Her helmet sat unbalanced on top of her head, her face was covered by a heavy scarf, and her bright eyes concealed by a pair of thick winter goggles.

They sat for several minutes in silence, distracted by the din orchestrated by heavy artillery. The sergeant continued to stare carefully into the distance, peaking every once and awhile with his pair of thermal magnoculars. "Where's Mina?" He said loudly.

"She's sleeping." Halle said, watching the flashes emanating from the barrels of the nearby 2055th Artillery. "Do you think we have a chance, Andre? I mean, we did win those last two battles."

_Shit, those were nothing._ Andre sat thinking to himself. _Those were merely scuffles. How was he going to tell her that she hadn't even come close to the brutality of actual combat?_ He gave her the magnoculars and pointed north towards Dothen. "Tell me what you think."

Halle looked through them briefly with her goggles on, a couple of minutes later she took them off and looked again. "Wow. That's a huge force." She paused and gave the magnoculars back. "The 43rd, we're bigger than that, right?"

There was no lying to her. "You would be absolutely right. The battle group in its entirety is larger." He took out his small canteen of vodivilisk and took a sip offering it to her. "Problem is, there's no way that's all they've got."

"How, exactly, would you know?" Halle took the canteen, tipped back a shot, and gagged.

Andre accepted back his trinket and stuffed it into his inside coat pocket. "From my personal experiences, our friends at the Adeptus Astartes like pulling their final cards only when they have nothing left to play. Who's to say that the more evil versions of the battle brothers aren't just as sneaky if not worse."

"Is it even possible to have that much? I mean, more than what we've seen?"

"Anything is possible." _For one, there are nearly 2 million people in Dothen and it's more than likely that a huge majority of the population turned. It's going to be one hell of fight. _Andre knew it, but Halle didn't_. Even with the combined veteran and elite troops that made up the 43__rd__, the Iron Warriors had a vast advantage. First, every Chaos marine was equal to nearly three elite Guard. And second, they simply have sheer power in the form of numbers._

"Andre, are you alright?"

His rational side wanted him to say 'no,' but something prevented him from doing so. Instead, he forced a small smile underneath his scarf and managed a small and feeble 'yes.' He provided her with no explanation, and sat quietly with her at his side.

Halle held her lasgun by its muzzle and gently placed the stock against the top of the Chimera. The carefully polished bayonet that pointed ominously toward the sky reflected the muzzle flashes from the artillery and landed against their dark colored goggles. Eeriness shrouded the Dothen Valley as if preparing itself for the battle to come and the massive bloodshed that would accompany it.

"Halle, has Mina notified you yet?"

"Notified me?" She turned toward him with surprise in her voice. "Notified me of what?"

Andre chuckled slightly, "I guess not, then, huh? With only seven able soldiers left in Thirteen and the same in Nine, we're probably going to be combined into a single, more effective squad. That's not for sure yet, though. " She watched him dig for something in the interior of his trench coat and produced a small trinket. He kept it clenched in his hand in order to keep it from freezing. "It's not much, but it's brought me luck since I joined the service."

She could see that it was a small necklace, a tiny silver Aquila medallion was hanging from its metal chain. The detailing needed for the wings and head of the eagle must've required a massive amount of craftsmanship. She took a long look at it, "Wow, that must've cost you a lot..."

"What's it matter what it costs?" Halle could sense a smile underneath his scarf. "It's mine to give and I'm giving it to you."

Halle gently took it from him and fiddled with it gently between her fingers. Taking her flashlight, she used it to look down at her new trinket. "Thank you, Andrew, I really appreciate it."

The sounds of the artillery cannons were muffled by the growling engine of the revved Chimera. Halle sat quietly next to Mina, gently toying with the silver Aquila that now hung around her covered neck. There was no way for her to describe the feeling that now engulfed her.

Halle felt lightheaded and her stomach churned with nervousness, she was being engulfed by this wave of anxiety that she'd never quite felt before.

Real combat with the Chaos Space Marines loomed ahead and there was no actual way of proving whether or not they were ready.

Over the course of an hour Halle had cleaned her lasgun several times to a pristine shine to occupy her time.

The concussive sound of an exploding missile was the tell-tale sign that the Iron Warriors were firing back, unsuccessfully at least. As far as she was concerned, the guns of the Imperial Guard, at range, were always quite superior. The inner workings, however, were a complete mystery to her.

Back at the academy they did have armor training and vehicular tactics, but she had been selected for advanced mobilized infantry warfare. The two years she spent there were focused completely on coordinating fire, moving efficiently in and out of a Chimera, and keeping one's cool under fire.

For the longest time she envied those who were part of the armor program. But after her time on Taiga Halle's opinion had changed dramatically seeing as how crowded the interior of the Leman Russes as well as the fact that they had been such a focus of enemy firepower.

Another explosion from a Chaos missile reverberated off of the armor and the Earthshakers soon responded with their own cannonade.

Halle had no idea when the order would come, but she would be ready for it when it did. Thank the Emperor, she was no white-shield. But damn the Ministorum for putting her right in the middle of it all. If she had the chance, it would have been so much better to be a PDF trooper for awhile...

All of a sudden her thoughts shifted to Andre. It was a weird idea that she'd be thinking of him right now, but it felt so natural to do it. Andre had gone through hell and back, survived to tell the tale, and is one of the best troopers of the 126th Mechanized.

Perhaps there really wasn't quite a reason for her to be too nervous. Andre served as her inspiration: the ideal soldier of the Imperial Guard, staunch, brave, ruthless... but at the same time he was kind-hearted and caring.

If Andre had done it, she could too.

"Lord-General, all preparations have been completed. We are ready to begin the attack on your order."

He was handed a data-slate, detailed on it were the formation of every regiment down to their companies, platoons, and even squads. The fact that all of his soldiers were in one gigantic line irked him, but their simply was nothing else he could do.

Valerian pulled the sleeve of his great-coat off of his wrist and looked at his chronograph, it read 0244. There were sixteen minutes left before he would make the order to attack, just enough time to adjust the strategy – if there were any adjustments that could be made.

The last five hours weren't wasted with just a simple artillery barrage; he had sent three naval air wings to fly around the city in an attempt to find some weak spot that they could penetrate through. All of that flying simply ended in wasted time and wasted fuel.

The barrage, also, was not a pure waste of ammunition. Valerian was banking on weakening that Emperor-forsaken wall. Slamming a massive amount of artillery shells and energy blasts might make it easier on them on the final assault.

All they could do was charge down the center and hope to breach.

His staff of generals looked to him, standing stiff and still around the table. They remained there in silence for the remaining few minutes until Valerian checked his chronograph again and it read the fateful 0300. He leaned forward onto the table and looked straight into the eyes of each member of his retinue.

Hours – days – of preparation have culminated up to this point.

"Begin the attack."

Andre and the remaining seven other combat-worthy troopers of his squad were strapped tightly into the seats of their Chimera. Through the carrier's heavy armor plating, Andre could hear the vehicles around them start, their engines grumbling loudly in a chorus of anticipation.

In a second, the Chimera lurched forward followed by a complete fusillade of cannon fire. Instants later, explosions shook the armor of the personnel carrier as the Iron Warriors returned fire and he could hear the sounds of exploding vehicles and ripping armor outside.

Jay, holding his meltagun as close to his body as he could, kissed the ring that was wrapped around his finger over his combat glove and made the sign of the Aquila. Although she was trying to hide it, Carson was shaking out of fear and Vasily was as nervous as humanely possible.

Andre could feel his heart thumping but it had become such a natural feeling that Andre didn't exactly know how to make of it. It just simply felt like another day, nothing more, nothing less.

The vehicle shook heavily as a shot from a lascannon slammed into its front armor. Venson sighed and Andre could hear him mumble through his comm-bead. "Holy Throne, that was a close call," There was silence for several seconds, "We're closing in on the drop-off zone, Andre! You guys ready back there?"

_They were as ready as they'd ever be._ "We're good to go, Ven."

With a strong jerk, the Chimera made a full 180 degree turn and as it grinded to a stop the rear hatch hit the ground with a loud thud. Without a seconds notice, high-caliber bolter rounds were ricocheting into the APC's rear compartment. Curse words and screams of pain filled the air around him as he goaded his squad out and into any cover they could find.

As he took a head count, Andre could help but notice that he had only six of his troopers. He took a quick glance back in time to see Private McCall sprawled on the floor of the Chimera, a gaping hole in his chest. An explosive round no less. Unfortunately he was dead... Andre ducked in and grabbed McCall's dog tags before the hatch closed with an eerie silence.

The sounds of battle erupted back into his head as he ran to where the rest of his squad had gone prone for cover. Bolter fire chattered over them and artillery shells were exploding all around. It seemed nearly impossible for them to move without being shot and Andre came to the decision that they would take a brief moment and wait.

He crawled forward, far enough to where he could see the Iron Warriors frontline of defense. To his surprise they had made no effort to dig in their positions, the marines were holding their ground on their own. An impenetrable wall of power armor stood in between the 43rd Valhallan and the city of Dothen.

Dust, dirt, and ice thrown up by an exploding Earthshaker shell provided enough of an obstacle for Andre to bring his squad forward and take shelter in its resulting crater. They had closed enough of a gap to finally take shots at the marines with their own lasguns.

Yelling as loud as he possibly could, Andre pointed in the direction of the line of silver armored soldiers and ordered them to fire. Ducking in and out, his soldiers would shoot off as many well-placed shots as they could before returning bolter fire forced them back into cover. Most of their las-beams, however, glanced right off of the marines' armor or was hopelessly absorbed by the chaos energies that surrounded them, similar to those that flowed from the armor of the Adeptus Astartes.

What damage they had done was negligible, perhaps taken down two or three marines in which nearly a dozen had already taken their fallen comrades places.

They were out of meltagun range, which would have been the perfect weapon when given it's chance. This left them with only one other option.

Dmitri was down, his left arm paralyzed leaving him only able to return fire with a lasgun propped against the crater's edge. Vasily was not far behind, dragging the lascannon's case and its extra power-packs. The sergeant quickly moved to help, grabbing the front end and bringing it to where everyone else was taking cover.

The heavy weapon was set up in double quick time, primed and ready in less than five minutes. Dmitri tossed Andre his magnoculars so that the sergeant could act as spotter in his place.

Andre brought the magnoculars up, ignoring the bullets that were flying passed him. All he could see was a solid wall of silver armor, there was no way he was going to pick out any targets of opportunity, too many tanks and too many marines. He yelled over the constant cacophony that buzzed around them, "Vasily! Just fire!"

"Sir? Please repeat!"

"Fire your weapon!"

It had all started so fast that Halle had no time to react. In fact she didn't even remember exactly how she got to standing in the middle of the battlefield.

The shockwave of an artillery shell knocked Halle off of her feet, blasting her several meters from where she was standing and into the deep snow. It took her several minutes to regain her senses with her ears ringing and flashes of light dancing around her eyes. She groped for her lasgun, feeling the stock with the tips of her fingers. The chaotic sounds of battle returned like a flood.

She heard someone calling her name through the cacophony and saw Mina motioning for her to join the rest of the squad in a nearby crater. Some feeling in her gut told her that the crater was where she was just standing...

They were still a good distance away from the base of the wall; bit from where they were Squad Nine could still see explosive shells slamming into it. That was an intimidating sight, after hours of relentless bombardment that wall had very little, if any, damage. The only way they were going to get through to the city was if they could get the Shadowswords close enough so that their combined fire might punch a hole large and wide enough for the armies to get through. They have been fighting for hours coming only half a kilometer to their target area.

Several flights of Valkyrie and Vendetta gunships flew over. Halle had the misfortune of seeing one explode in mid-air and another come crashing into the ground. Like a swarm of angry hornets, another sortie of Vendettas zoomed down with their lascannons and heavy bolters ablaze. The gunfire and explosive blasts of battle cannons was horrendously load, echoing through the valley, and making it nearly impossible for Halle to hear herself think. Tracer bullets, laser shots, and solid shells were flying in every direction.

Halle could hear Mina yelling into the comm-bead for Kristof and Josef to set up the autocannon. The private wasn't even sure what she had to do until Alisa pulled her against the edge of the crater and motioned for her to fire.

It took her several minutes to get situated, tumbling with her lasgun until she could finally get her hand wrapped around the grip. Looking down the sight, Halle used all the strength she could muster to prevent herself from shaking. Her first shot was way off, flying over the heads of the Iron Warriors and dissipating into the winter air. Taking several seconds to readjust her aim, Halle fired a second shot that hit a marine, but it glanced right off his shoulder pad, doing nothing.

As the other platoons of the 126th entered the fray, the las-fire grew into a constant chatter. Halle fired blindly into the line, seeing marines fall under the constant volleys of bullets and lasers. Whether or not she had killed one or two of them she had no idea. This was nothing like the last few engagements had been like. It was so hectic and chaotic, Halle couldn't tell left from right, but as she looked around it seemed that everybody had a handle on what was going on.

"Nine!" Halle could hear, muffled in the background. "Forward!"

Halle held her lasgun tightly with both of her hands and ran with the rest of her squad to the next point, seeing Cally fall as they did. She ran back for her, grabbed her under the arms and pulled her to the safety of another crater. A small caliber bolter shot had torn straight through her side and it was bleeding profusely. As the blood flowed out of her wound, it froze as it pooled. Halle had to act quickly or Cally's blood would freeze. Cleaning the wound as best she could, Halle took a synth-skin from her pack and placed it onto the wound.

"Halle! How is she!"

The private looked up at Mina, "I can't tell! But she needs a medic, I know that for sure!"

Mina looked up at the rear-end of the Imperial line as the tanks began to form into battle formation, she then looked back down at a wounded Cally, to Halle and then finally to Alisa. She waved the sniper to where she was crouched and yelled to her through the sounds of battle around her. "Alisa! Help Halle carry Cally to the Chimera!"

Halle took Cally's arm and wrapped it around her neck, holding the wounded soldier up as best as she could. Using her long-las, Alisa did her best to give the two retreating soldiers covering fire as they struggled towards Nine's Chimera. As they ran, Halle could hear gunfire zipping past as she struggled to carry Cally to safety.

A sudden force, like the hard punch from a commissar's fist, knocked Halle down into the cold snow. She had been shot and she knew it, her back ached with pain as she forced herself back up. Miraculously, her carapace armor had saved her from death once again.

Halle heard the scream of an incoming whirlwind rocket and she hit the ground, covering Cally with her own body. The missile exploded nearby, metal and frozen dirt flying in every direction. Alisa helped the two soldiers up, screaming for them to keep moving. The chimera was only a few dozen meters away. They were so close and Halle would not let herself fail.

The intervention of the Leman Russes and fast attack tanks was a welcome one. Andre ordered his squad to hold position under the cover of high caliber blasts, burning inferno cannons, and destructive meltas. The attack had gone from a stalemate to a steam-roll in the Imperium's favor. Valkyries, Vendettas, and Vultures continued to fly in trios, strafing the Iron Warriors with lascannons, Hellstrike missiles, and heavy bolters.

Waves of tanks passed by the 43rd's line of mobile infantry, shifting the battle into an absolute armored war. At this point in the battle there wasn't much the infantry could do. Following closely behind the 443rd, Andre moved his squad steadily forward. Eventually, the Imperial armor was moving at such a pace that he was forced to tell his squad to hop onto the roof of the Chimera.

At this point in time, it was all up to the armor. It looked like they had it all wrapped up out here. All that was left now was to a punch a hole in that godforsaken wall.


	10. Chapter 9: Breach

**Chapter Nine: Breach**

**Weather: Heavy Snow, Light Winds Predicted Temperature: -93˚C**

It was extremely cold. The temperature had dropped considerably, nearly thirty degrees, now that they were so close to the wall of ice that surrounded Dothen. The combat several days earlier had been brutal and devastating with casualties reaching several thousand. Despite that, despite the thousands who were now dead, rumors expressed a continued positivity and that the last battle had only scratched the surface of the 43rd's full potential.

The storm troopers and grenadiers were grounded, last night all low-flying aircraft were suspended by the Navy from flying anywhere passed the ice wall. They were restricted to sorties around the city until the ground forces could find out what was screwing up the air wings' auspices. Dothen even looked as if it had disappeared off the planet. Everyone has said that the city doesn't even appear on orbital scans; like it never existed.

Squad Nine's Chimera was parked next to the blackened remains of a Chaos predator, an ugly testament to the brutality of the fighting that had taken place on these now hallowed fields. Stretching for kilometers in every direction laid the bodies of the thousands killed, Imperial Guard and Chaos Marine alike. Destroyed, burned-out tank chassis and the crashed husks of aircraft littered the field like unhealthy blemishes.

The battle itself had been chaotic at best. There was no telling exactly what had been going on with all the gunfire, explosions, radio communiqués, and screams of the wounded and dying. Bodies were everywhere. There was no sense of dodging bullets or running for cover, it was all about who was in the back so that those who died in the front may save them.

Day after day, combat was steadily growing more and more brutal.

Latest news had been about the Lord-General's plan for a breach. Using the multiple Shadowswords assigned to the battle-group, they would concentrate the fire of their Volcano cannons into a single spot. The intense heat and kinetic energy is, at least in theory, powerful enough to punch through anything. The enginseers have been working on a power relay to alternate charge so that the Shadowswords would not destroy themselves in the process.

She could see it from here. The massive power reactor had been erected not too far from where Thirteen was supposed to be. It pulsed with waves of ionic energy, powered by the cores ripped from several of the Mammoth mining vehicles that had helped them get this far. The super-heavy tanks had been at it for nearly thirty-six hours straight, punching through several hundred feet. But so far, there still was no sign of the other side. They had already reached the city's outskirts, having already burned through several rockcrete structures. There was no telling how far they would have to go before they got through.

Halle clutched the Aquila Andre had given her tightly between her fingers. She had not seen him since the attack had begun. Nine and Thirteen had been deployed nearly a kilometer apart with no safe way of contacting each other. In his absence she poured all of her worry into that tiny silver Aquila. Her squad was camped quietly around they're Chimera, tucked snugly against the back of 3rd Company of the 28th Armored Regiment.

He had been on her mind every day since they met in that small bunker back in the snow fields before the assault. There was something about him that was just different from all the other guard she knew. Sometimes she wondered how he would have lived his life had he not been conscripted. Perhaps, maybe, he and Winry would have lived a happy life.

The private sat back down in the circle her squad had made around the ion-heater, grabbing her lasgun and beginning the process of cleaning it. It was hard to believe that when she had first started Guard training, Halle felt that she would never adapt to any of these militaristic routines. In a sense, it amazed her how well the drill instructors had indoctrinated all the know-how into their soldiers. When she was in her first week, Halle would never remember to service her rifle. Now, whenever she had a chance she would clean it and make it look as if it were new.

An Imperial Guardsman will do anything to occupy their mind, especially when they weren't in combat. Idle minds brewed discontent and a lack of faith in the Emperor, often earning a soldier a commissar's well-placed bullet to the head.

Halle cleaned her lasgun... and worried about Andre.

It was impossible for him to sleep with the constant electrical buzz of the power alternator that was about a hundred meters from where he was camped. Andre sat on top of his Chimera, a warm cup of caffeine clasped between his gloved hands, and watched as the Shadowswords slowly made progress through the ice wall.

The red and orange glow of the volcano cannons shimmered brightly through the dark night sky, reflecting strangely off of the thick snow. There were no other sounds in the air besides the hum of the Shadowswords.

Andre kept his vox-bead on, but the only chatter he could hear was in the binary language of the Mechanicus. Nothing he could understand. Occasionally he'd hear small communiqués about weapons exchanges or requests for medics, but nothing that would really catch his attention as he sat sipping his caffeine.

It was as if the war had come to a strange and idle standstill. His entire life since joining the Guard had been characterized by day after day of constant action, be it shooting at something, being shot at, or simply moving the army from one place to another.

He had remembered back on Valhalla how he often took for granted and even relished those chances he had to be in whatever tranquil silence he could find. Often times it would be at night after his shift at the manufactorium had ended and he was on his way back to his sparsely furnished hab block. In reality, it was never truly silent in Brivana. But the chorus of constant machinery became something he got used to and eventually missed when he finally shipped out with the Guard.

The quiet air around him now made him feel eerily uncomfortable. The true definition of the proverbial phrase 'The calm before the storm.'

Andre was anxious.

Another binary coded message shot through his vox bead, garbled and indiscernible to the unmodified human ear. There was always something about the techpriest enginseers of the Adeptus Mechanicus that somewhat irked him. Their cybernetic implants, other-worldly language, and bright red uniforms made them seem like a completely different race all their own.

On top of all that, they were eerily mysterious about everything they did. It both earned Andre's respect as well as his suspicion. The sergeant had heard stories of the Adept Magi who would assemble armies in the millions in order to retrieve a simple fragment of a data core. And sacrifice thousands upon thousands of men to safely recover an STC unit. Andre fully understood the importance of these artifacts, it was just the Mechanicus' light-hearted disregard for the loss of life that scared him the most.

The Cult of Mars believed machines to be of a higher level than humanity itself, and for that he simply could not trust those red-robbed bastards...

Andre watched as a Salamander, painted in red and carrying half a dozen enginseers, zoomed passed in the direction of the alternator, kicking up a light cloud of snow as they went. He watched them disappear rapidly over the hill.

Only a handful of soldiers made up Squad Thirteen since planetfall. John was killed in a demolisher shell blast. Didn't even know what hit him. While Chris had been shot in the head by a bolter round damn near the end of the battle. There was nothing anyone could do to save him. It left a grand total of five. A half strength squad... That was all that was left. The only reason they were still deemed combat-effective by company command was because they still had the meltagun and they still had the lascannon. That was it.

Finishing off his cup of caffeine, Andre hopped off of the roof of the Chimera, landing heavily in the snow. He opened the door to the transport and closed it quickly behind him. The other four troopers briefly looked at him before returning to whatever it was they were doing. Most of them were trying to get as much sleep as they possibly could. Vasily, however, was maintaining his lascannon with extreme care.

Their special weapons trooper, Jay, had been blasted by an autocannon with the only discernable remains of him being the meltagun that the former private turned special weapons trooper, Carson, now carried. It was a strange sight to see a small and skinny girl like her carrying as heavy a weapon as that. However, she was equally deadly with the short-range weapon as she had been with her long-las.

A sort of heavy stillness permeated the air around them. Circumstances had definitely changed. Everything was not as light-hearted or easy to joke about anymore. With their number dwindling, everyone was wondering who would be next.

The five soldiers in that Chimera had already defied the odds. In most cases, an Imperial Guard soldier had a life expectancy little under a week when in a combat zone. Often cases, squads such as Thirteen would be disbanded, its members taking command of squads all their own.

That's what had happened to Andre and Mina, in the most unlikely of cases. Cassadore had seen many good soldiers die as well as countless new ones. Many of the people Andre was conscripted and trained with died in the first assault, only to be replaced by newer and stranger faces.

As a white-shield, both Mina and himself learned that camaraderie was hard to come by. You could make friends with someone, only to watch them die the next day.

It was in the brutal combat zones of Cassadore that Andre was moved from white-shield to standard infantry, having been one of a handful of conscripts to have survived since planetfall. And only a few days later, after having seen his squad leader be consumed by a Tyranid Carnifex, Andre was promoted sergeant and given command of his first squad.

Andre always asked why the Emperor had decided on him to be a sergeant and not one of the other men. Graduates of the Academy, all of them, whereas Andre was nothing more than a five-hour trained white-shield. He figured perhaps it was because he had seen more brutality in a week than all of them combined.

At this point in time, he was sure he had seen enough violence to last him a million lifetimes.

The sergeant poured himself another cup of caffeine from the small container they had and went back outside. Climbing on top of the Chimera, he seated himself up against the side of the multi-laser turret and quietly watched the Shadowswords.

He couldn't help but think about Halle. A lot had changed since they first met and he worried about her. Quietly of course. Since the assault on the wall, he had not seen her or heard of her condition. Andre figured that no news was probably good news. After all, he'd seen what she could do and was positive Halle could take care of herself. Especially since Mina was watching over her too.

Then a sharp thought shot through his mind.

Eujenia Mathews. The way she had been staring at Halle and then back at him had irked the sergeant. There was something about that girl that just didn't feel quite right. It may be true that she served under him on Cassadore and had saved her on more than one occasion, but Andre felt he was simply doing the right thing at the time.

Now, he wasn't quite sure anymore. Ever since the close of the campaign on Cassadore, Jena had clung to him. Pined for his attention, even going so far as to begging her squad leader Rike to transfer her to Thirteen. To no avail of course, but if someone was willing to go that far to be near another person, there was something that just didn't feel right.

A familiar voice caught his attention. It was the 126th's Colonel Komivosky with an order to prepare and mount up.

Finally. It was time.

Halle had been quickly forced awake by Mina, urgently telling her to get ready to move in. At first, the young private didn't quite exactly know what was going on, half-dazed after having the only sleep she'd gotten in days forcibly interrupted. It was only after she had strapped herself into her seat inside the Chimera did she manage to realize that they had made a breach and were entering the city.

Her lasgun sat across her lap, cleaned and ready to go. Halle's heart was beating so fast she couldn't even count it. They were finally about to enter Dothen and the fear of the unknown ate away at her.

The last recon report of the city was ages old, before any of this had happened. No one exactly knew what was inside that city. What was for certain, however, was that the Iron Warriors had torn right through it, conquering it in less than a day. Why they had stopped was a tactical mystery.

Dothen was an old and worn-out city. Its mining days having passed long ago, relegating it to nothing but lumber work.

It led up to the question as to why, exactly, were the Chaos Space Marines so focused on taking it and keeping it that way? It was a city of no true tactical value. There was nothing important there, at least as far as the Guard knew, that would have ever attracted them to such a forgotten and Emperor-forsaken place.

The tunnel they had dug was nearly two hundred kilometers long and made out of a frozen substance that almost had a mind of its own, like most manifestations of the warp. It had the characteristic of constant motion, unlike ice which was by every definition a solid in all aspects.

No one exactly had an idea of what it was capable of doing or how it got there. The only thing for sure was that it was strange, made by Chaos, and almost certainly dangerous. Thereby it was necessary to move the entire battle group as fast as humanly possible. For all they knew, the tunnel that had taken them days to bore might simply close in a manner of seconds. However short an opportunity it was, they must take advantage of it.

Several battalions of super-heavy tanks were in the lead, followed closely by the 126th that would help buffer the advance in the form of mechanized infantry. It was crucial that both divisions secure a beachhead for the rest of the battle group to bolster upon its arrival.

It was mostly silent aside from the constant rattle of the Chimera. None of the other members of Nine were looking at one another. Each looking into their minds before anything else would happen.

Halle caught herself reciting a litany of security to the Emperor. Not for herself, as one might have imagined, but for Andre and her squad mates. She was praying that the Emperor might keep them safe.

Never before had Halle felt any form of camaraderie with anyone but these people that surrounded her now. It was a strange sort of fellowship that could only be formed in a baptism of fire, standing shoulder to shoulder braving salvoes of bullets, lasers, and whatever else the archenemies of the Imperium are willing to throw at them. She let sigh pass between her lips, barely audible over the din of the engine.

She couldn't help but ask Mina about Talila's condition. It had been nearly a week since she had last seen her. Her sergeant had little to say. Only that she was recovering slowly back in an infirmary safely in Lashvowe. For some reason, Halle felt somewhat skeptical.

The Chimera picked up speed, jerking its passengers against the safety harnesses that kept them securely in their seats.

Halle's heart slowly started to beat faster and faster. _This is it._ She quietly thought to herself. _All of that anticipation. All of the battles have led up to this. _Halle smiled smartly underneath her scarf. _It's about time we liberate this city._

Just like every other squad in the 126th, Four was starting to dwindle in number too. Jena had tried saving some of them, but there was simply nothing you could do against a lascannon shot or a bolter round to the head. With only six of them left, Jena had long abandoned her long-las for a boltgun. In the city, the mid-range weapon would end up being much more useful than a sniper rifle.

Since Valeri was gunned down by a squad of Iron Warriors loyalists, Jena was now Rike's second in command. To her, it felt strange finally being in some position of authority but she also found it somewhat satisfying. It was a different feeling when people were coming to you for answers instead of the other way around.

When the 126th and its sister regiment, the 448th, entered the city for the first time they were surprised to have not run into any type of resistance. One would have expected some kind of barricade or impromptu defense line to stop the Imperials as much as they could. But there was nothing. Quickly, the two regiments plus the 75th super-heavy tank regiment deployed and began slowly expanding into the city.

They soon found out that some sort of jammer or disrupter was in the city. As they grew farther and farther away from the temporary headquarters, their vox signals grew weaker and more garbled until they were forced to short relay communications. Eventually, orders came through to stop until reinforcements arrived.

Every day more of the battle group arrived, hundreds upon thousands of Imperial vehicles were cramped into the tiny space of a city known as Dothen. Street to street combat was going to be more than brutal. However, Jena was glad they were finally in a place that had a semblance of cover. Finally, no more running around an open field surrounded by tanks on both sides.

Squad Four was set up inside an abandoned hab-block between One and Nine. They formed the outermost perimeter of the defensive line that surrounded the ever-growing 43rd. It was their responsibility to relay any enemy information all the way back.

To relay anything back to HQ would take hours, and to relay anything forward would take just as long, being forced to pass a single order from one squad to the other. Especially for One, Four, Nine, and Seven; they were the tip of the defensive bubble. The sniper couldn't help but feel that if they needed to fall back, the order to do so would come several hours too late. They would all be dead if that were to happen.

Right now, it was eerily quiet. Jena sat with a pair of magnoculars staring out across the streets from her rooftop vantage point. It felt as if the entire city was dead, there was no movement, no noise... Nothing.

Rike eventually came up with a container of caffeine for her and asked, "Anything new, Jena?"

Shaking her head, Jena responded. "Nope. Nothing new. Same old stuff, buildings and lots of snow."

The sergeant gently chuckled as he started to head back down the stairs. "If you see anything, though, tell me immediately."

"I can't tell you how many times you've said that, Rike. I'm not a private anymore."

Again, he chuckled before disappearing down the dark staircase.

Jena took a few sips of caffeine and sat quietly thinking. What would happen once this campaign was over? She couldn't help but think about the millions of other planets that they would eventually make their way to. It was a frightening idea, to be so far away from the place which she had called home for so long. But it wasn't so bad when she had Andre on her mind...

She picked up her magnoculars again before retiring into the hab for the night. On her last sweep, something caught her eye.

The five members of Thirteen were quickly awakened by the chatter of las-fire in the distance. Soon enough, shots started to hit the walls of the building they had taken shelter in. Andre moved his troops against the window, magnoculars in hand to spot targets that were across the street.

Whoever was shooting at them had lasguns. There was no way they were space marines. They're bulky hands would crush a lasgun... It had to be the PDF, those traitors who decided to side with Chaos rather than die as a loyalist to the God-Emperor of man.

Thirteen fired back to much greater success than the Dothen PDF and for a while it seemed as if they had the upper hand and advantage. Every now and then Andre would be able to spot a well placed shot take one of the opposing men down. A true testament to how the Imperial Guard were much more prepared and much more experienced than their Planetary Defense Force brethren.

Soon, though, the sheer number of las-shots being fired in their direction grew exponentially. However inaccurate they might have been, it was enough to keep Thirteen under cover, afraid to take a shot back for fear that one of the enemy's might hit its mark.

Andre was able to glance across the street long enough to see that the PDF had been joined by cultists as well as poorly armed citizens clearly bearing the insignia of the Iron Warriors. The hab-block directly across the street and those around it were soon crawling with hostile people firing haphazardly at the five Imperial soldiers cramped in a housing room.

The only reason they were going to win this firefight was because of sheer number. There were so many of them now that Andre couldn't even count them anymore! Stub rounds, shotgun pellets, and las-bolts hit all around them. Thirteen responded with a single shot, two if they were lucky.

Briefly looking out again, Andre was able to catch sight of a few PDF troopers setting up with a missile launcher on the roof of the building across the street. A wave of panic took over him. The sergeant turned to his soldiers and yelled as loud as he possibly could. "Move!"

They forced themselves on their feet and dove into the hallway as the rocket crashed into the room. A heavy cloud of dust and rockcrete filled the air around them. Andre managed to get back up, counting the white, moving soldiers on the ground, relieved that they were all alive.

He herded them down the stairs onto the first floor where they briefly took a moment to catch their breath. Carson threw herself against the door way, holding the late Jay's meltagun close to her body. The trooper fired off a shot that incinerated a cultist on impact. The others who witnessed their comrade's death froze for a second which gave Thirteen long enough to escape into an alleyway. From there they set up the lascannon against a fallen wall and waited for an expected attack.

Then a crackly, garbled message came through on Andre's vox-bead. "All soldiers of the 126th and 448th, retreat back to the main defensive line and hold there until further instructions."

Jena fired off a shot from her boltgun and watched satisfied as the PDF soldier she had hit fell several stories off of the roof and onto the street with a sickening splat. Four had been able to quickly respond to the attack because Jena had seen them coming from several blocks away. Luckily, it seemed as if these Chaos soldiers thought they were facing far more than just six soldiers. They were cowering in fear inside the hab across the street.

The man next to her, Danov, loaded a krak missile into his launcher and steadied it up against his shoulder. Seconds later the explosive sound of an impacting missile filled their ears, blowing a hole in the side of the building killing all who had foolishly taken cover behind it. She shot the ones who were struggling to get back up.

Suddenly she heard someone screaming her name. She ran into the adjacent room to find Rike on the floor clutching his neck bleeding. Jena threw her boltgun across her back and knelt over him, firmly placing her gloved hands onto the wound doing her best to seal it.

The bleeding man firmly grabbed Jena by the wrist and forced her to look at him. With the same hand he took off his vox bead and handed it to her, managing to say two words. "Take it." It was clear to the both of them that he wasn't going to make it. With a single last breath, he lay still.

For a moment, all the sounds around her faded into the background. She sat there, immobile with the vox bead clutched tightly in one hand. Finally she managed to build up enough strength to put it on and the sound slowly filtered back into her mind. "Squad Four? Rike? Sergeant Rike are you there? Please respond."

"This is Sergeant Rike's second, Eujenia Mathews. Sergeant Rike is dead. What would you have me do."

"You are ordered to take Squad Four, and retreat to the main defensive line and hold there until we are further instructed. Be sure to pass the order onto Nine."

"Yes sir... I'll be sure to pass it along."

Halle fired her lasgun in short bursts and could hear Mina behind her, "Please repeat, Jena! Please repeat!" The private took cover behind the wall, letting the expanded las-pack of her gun fall free. Halle did her best to listen to what Mina was saying as she inserted a fresh case into her gun. "Did you say we are to hold in place? Please confirm!"

"Yes. That's confirmed, Mina. We are all to hold in place until further instruction."

"Understood..."

Mina went back up against the wall and yelled over the sounds of combat around them. "Orders are to hold in place! We cannot let them through!" She leaned slightly out the window and fired off a few shots from her laspistol.

It was almost impossible to tell what exactly was going on. There was so much gunfire aimed at them that you could barely crack off a few shots before being pinned back into cover. She couldn't exactly figure how their squad of seven was going to handle all these people...

Whenever Halle took down a single soldier, two more would take his place. It was like there was an endless amount of them... She peeked her head over to try and take another shot, but a stub gun bullet glanced off her helmet and forced her back into cover. A continuous stream las-fire and boltgun shots slammed through the open windows and into the walls behind them.

Josef yelled over the noise at their sergeant, "Mina! We're pinned down! We have to fall back now or we'll be overrun!"

"No! We've been ordered to hold in place and that's exactly what we'll do!"

Halle pointed her lasgun out and blind-fired a burst of las-bolts in the general direction of the gunfire. The sound of a firing missile only registered in her mind the few milliseconds before the resulting explosion threw her and her squad mates against the opposite wall. The private felt someone grab the collar of her great coat and pull her to her feet, yelling at her in a nearly inaudible tone, "We have to move!"

Nine braved the hail of shots to move from one building and taking cover in the next. The incoming gunfire had grown to such an exponential rate that it meant certain death for anyone to even try and fire back. Slowly they all began to realize that it was pointless to try to stand and fight when they were so greatly outnumbered.

Mina tried to raise Squad Four to reconfirm their orders, but after several attempts, nothing. All of their lives hung in the balance and the sergeant understood that it was no longer a matter of following orders, but a matter of saving the lives of her soldiers to better serve the Emperor another day. She gathered them together and came to the decision that they were going to fall back. Any consequences for disobeying their orders would fall to her.

Something about all of this made Halle feel uncomfortable. It was as if someone was trying to mislead them to purposefully get them killed, but who in their right mind would want to do that? What exactly would they want to accomplish by doing that?

Whatever the reason or whatever the case might be, it was their priority to get back alive. Halle unsheathed her combat knife from her belt and attached it to the end of her lasgun. It was probably reasonable to think that they were probably surrounded. They would have to fight through the PDF and cultists if they were to return to the 126th alive.

Each of them took a firm grip on their weapons, nodded briefly to one another. And with a tiny prayer of protection on their lips, they burst out of the rear of the building with guns blazing.

Andre knew immediately that something was wrong from the moment he and his squad had returned. Nine was missing in action and he couldn't help but frantically inquire as to what had happened to them. The only answer her was able to goad out of his platoon commander was that they went missing when the fighting started and hadn't reported since.

As for which squads had been on the flanks of Nine, no one remembered because the PDF attack had happened so suddenly that most didn't remember or were still recovering from the shock of Imperial betrayal.

The sergeant requested, asked, begged his lieutenant for permission to search for them. But he was denied each time, with his superiors calmly stating, "Soldier, we'll look for them when the main attack on the city begins. Until then, you are instructed to remain in position and wait for further orders."

It would take two or three more days at least before they would begin to enter the city and Andre hated how he had been forced to do nothing. He had seen how many soldiers there were and his half-strength squad wouldn't be able to poke the eye of a force that large. Either way, there was no point in him risking what was left of his squad.

He prayed to the Emperor and sometimes others from his squad would join him in reciting the litany of protection. It was painful to think that Andre had lost one of his best comrades in arms as well as the girl he had sworn to protect. The shock of failure was just too unbearable for him to possibly think about.

The soldiers of his squad were worried about him. Never before had they actually seen their fearless leader look so distressed. It was hard for them to believe that the man who was now sitting by himself scribbling endlessly in his pocket-journal was the same person who would stand in plain sight, braving hails of gunfire, with his sword raised in a bloody fury.

It would seem that every soldier, even those who had seen as much combat as Andre, had their soft spots.

One evening, Carson brought him a cup of caffeine mixed with vodivilisk and sat with him. Andre was quiet, as he always was, when she took her seat. Accepting the cup with a nod and a simple thank you, Andre took a sip before turning to her and asking what she thought about life in the Guard.

"What exactly do you mean, Andre?"

"I mean exactly what I said." He turned to her with a blank look on his face. "What do you think about life as an Imperial Guard soldier?"

"I believe it's hard, but necessary." She responded, lightly. "I think as an Imperial Guard soldier, we're serving the Emperor in the best way we can."

"What about the others back home? Those who work in the manufactoriums?"

"I think they're serving the Imperium in their own way as well."

Andre nodded silently to her.

After that they sat in silence for the next few hours, finishing off their drinks quietly. The sight of Andre in a state such as this had nearly always been what she had known of him, but something was extremely off this once. It was as if he simply didn't care anymore.

He spent most nights on top of the Chimera, sitting quietly on his own doing a variety of different things. From maintaining his chainsword to cleaning his laspistol. To everyone in the squad, what was on their sergeant's mind was nothing more than a complete and absolute mystery.

Only when the battle group was finally assembled and the final attack could begin did he seem to start acting like himself again. Taking command of his soldiers, Andre appeared to have returned to that fearless sergeant that they all knew so well. But still to the rest of the squad members of Thirteen, it seemed as if something about him was still strangely wrong.

Nine had done their best to get through, but it was simply tactically impossible. They fought as hard as they possibly could, but there was just too many PDF and too many cultists. Halle had been the only one not captured in the end, because Mina had bought her time by sacrificing herself.

She had managed to sneak away, but instead of returning to the front like Mina had ordered her to, she had followed them. Almost everyone was dead. Mina, Alexa, and Josef were the only ones left alive, but they were bound and being forced along at gun-point.

Halle had dropped her lasgun earlier, and all she had as any form of weapon was her knife and a laspistol. Too little to do anything.

The PDF troopers led their captives in an abandoned Cathedral to St. Emiline of Valetron. Quietly sneaking in from one of the side doors, Halle hid herself amongst the pews to watch. There were ten of them. She was almost sure she couldn't take all of them on her own.

Chanting the names of the Chaos gods, they all formed a small circle around the three captive Imperial soldiers. Each of them were too tired... too exhausted to do anything to prevent the inevitable.

They shot Alexa first and Halle cringed at the sight of her comrade's body fall limp to the floor.

Josef spat in the face of the sergeant before he put a las-bolt between the Imperial soldier's eyes.

Mina managed to bring her head up, pure anger and disgust plastered her face as the man pressed the barrel of his pistol against her forehead. "You have no idea what you're doing, do you?" Mina said roughly. "The Emperor will condemn you for your treachery."

The last shot echoed through the church like a mourning bell chime.

The private sat there, motionless for several hours not sure exactly what to do next. Then, anger and hatred started to bubble deep within her heart. Nothing mattered to her anymore. Those men had killed them. Killed them all in the name of false gods. There was only one thing left for her to do: To kill the traitors.

Using the cover of the night, Halle made her way out of the cathedral and was able to find the squad who had killed her comrades. They spent most of the hours patrolling until they saw the tell-tale signs of an incoming blizzard.

Halle watched as the squad of traitor PDF entered an abandoned warehouse to take shelter. They walked with pride, obviously impressed that they had been given the honor of murdering her squad mates. As they sat around a fire smoking lho sticks, Halle waited in the shadows.

Perhaps several hours had passed before the blizzard had let up and the men were still celebrating, drunk from amasec and rhazvod. One of them started dancing on a hill of snow that had formed on the warehouse floor, a steady flow of white flakes pouring in from a gap in the roof. As the other PDF soldiers focused on the one idiot in the middle, Halle saw this as her chance to attack.

None of the men could fathom exactly what was going on because everything had started so fast.

Halle used the serrated edge of her blade to cut across the throat of the man in the center, letting him fall to the ground gurgling. Stunned by his squad mate's death, one of the soldiers stood frozen in shock unable to bring his lasgun up. The Valhallan soldier stabbed him and kicked him off of his feet as another one approached her. Wrapping her hand under his arm, she pulled him down and sunk her blade deep into his chest, throwing him aside.

Quickly, Halle drew her own pistol dispatching two more as she walked forward towards the sixth. As he brought up his pistol to bear, she hit it out of his hands and grabbed him tightly by the neck. Using him as a shield, Halle let several searing las-bolts hit the man as she murderously fired back hitting another PDF soldier in the head.

Tossing the dead soldier she had wrapped in her arm away, she climbed up a broken cat-walk and lobbed a grenade into a room where one of the men had taken shelter, smiling to herself in satisfaction when an anguished scream accompanied the concussive explosion.

Jumping from her perch, Halle grabbed the lasgun out of one of the soldier's hands, knocked him over, and shot him with his own weapon tossing it aside when she was finished.

Brutally kicking the last man down, Halle watched him crawl as she slipped a fresh magazine into her pistol. He looked up at her, begging for his life and pitifully holding his hands up in front of his face in an attempt to prolong the inevitable.

Halle aimed the gun down at him. And with the gentle squeeze of the trigger, a las-bolt shot through his up-raised hand and into his face.


End file.
